A new future
by little princess
Summary: Complete. Sequel to 'A new life' Duo is now used to life in the orphanage but falls in love with Heero. What will he do about it? Will he even admit it?
1. Prologue

Long author's note, probably longer than this chapter, but who cares?  
  
Yes, here's the long-awaited sequel to 'A new Life' called 'A new Future' with lots and lost more gundam boys, friendships, fights, girlz and of course, a new plot. Will Duo finally start coping with his life, will Wufei and Heero open up? And what about Quatre and of course Trowa? Will the latter befriend them or will they remain enemies? Well, there's only one way to find out, ne? Read this sequel!  
  
Though the other story took me just 1 week to finish, this one took a little longer. Imagine writing about Christmas in the middle of July and August! Then there was the fact that I had a little accident with my moped, causing me not being able to type on the computer for quite awhile, but here it is anyway. The brand-new sequel to ANL*:  
  
A NEW FUTURE  
  
Story is longer than its prequel, about 10.000 words longer and it has more chapters as well. In the beginning you might think it is less fun to read about Duo and Saria, but she will more and more fade into the background so don't worry about it, k?  
  
As you may have noticed in ANL, Duo can lie. I know most people don't let him because of the 'I run, I hide, but I never tell a lie' thingy, but he says that once in the whole show, after the battle where Heero selfdestructed (if I remember that well) when he's with Quatre in that underground city of his and he introduces himself. But who knows, maybe that was a lie as well. The Gundam boys are not holy (thought we all wish they were ;P )  
  
And another thing, I would like it if someone told me what my errors are and what they should be. I'm not from England so I have no doubts I make mistakes But I'm doing the best I can. And with your help, I might be able to do even better, thank you.  
  
BTW, I read their heights in their profiles and they are really little compared to what people are here. 1.56. I think the average for a fifteen- year-old boy here is at least 10 cm more. Even Trowa with his 1.60m is small. And then their weight, I thought they were supposed to have some muscles but obviously in gundam wing, muscles weigh nothing at all. Oh well, it makes them cute ^.^  
  
This story does not only have more chapters, but it also contains more words than the prequel to it. The fic has pairings 1+2 and 3+4. Rating PG13 so no lemon, just kissing. Don't like the pairings? I gave you a chance to vote and the majority preferred this so don't read if you're against it.  
  
Also: Trowa's now more the boy as we know him, I just hope I didn't make him too much Ooc because off all Gundam Wing, he's the character I have most difficultiers working with. Relena's difficult as well because everybody makes her a bitch which really she isn't *ducks behind chairs*  
  
Anyway, have fun y'all because I know some of you have been waiting for his. I am sorry for the delay but here's chapter one out of twelve (number might change) chapters  
  
Disclaimer for the WHOLE fic: I don't own Gundam wing and I'm not making any profit out of this besides working on my english skills.  
  
Rating: PG13  
  
Pairings: you voted for this, you should know!  
  
Prologue  
  
------  
  
'. . . but I can't deny my feelings any longer. Lucy, I'm in love with you.  
  
CW'  
  
The braided youth smiled at himself. He was so devious smart. For pranks like these his hacking skills really came in handy! He re-read the love mail he'd written and made a few adjustments. After all, this was Wufei who was supposed to be writing this. At least, that's what he had to make her believe. . .  
  
When he was satisfied with the result he moved the mouse to the send button. But the moment he clicked it he heard a voice behind him.  
  
"I doubt Wufei likes the idea of you using his initials."  
  
The braided boy spun around to find his roommate leaning on a table, arms crossed, staring at him with his usual empty expression. He blinked, then when he realised who it was he sighed relieved. "Heero."  
  
Heero nodded once. "Duo."  
  
Duo quickly logged out of Wufei's mailbox and shut down the computer. "How long've you been standing behind me?" He asked as he got up from the chair.  
  
"'I really don't know how to say this because I'm not used to it, but ever since I first saw you I can't stop thinking about you. I keep seeing your beautiful smile in front of my eyes and. . .'"  
  
"Yeah yeah, okay, stop it, I get it." Duo threw his hands up in the air in defeat. They'd reached the counter now and Duo handed his computer card to the lady behind the counter. "I am so dead." He mumbled.  
  
"What was that?" The lady asked politely as she gave him his students pass back.  
  
"Never mind." Duo quickly took his pass from the woman and hurried out the door of the school library, closely followed by Heero. "I can't believe you've been standing behind me from the beginning without me noticing it! What are you, invisible or something?"  
  
"Hn."  
  
# *~* # *~* #  
  
"DAMN YOU MAXWELL! GET THE HELL BACK HERE BEFORE I MAKE YOUR DEATH SLOW AND VERY PAINFULL!"  
  
The braided youth ran trough the corridors of the large building, moving his feet as fast as he could, closely followed by an enraged Chinese boy, yelling all the swearwords he knew and more at the top of his lungs.  
  
Wufei had found out about somebody hacking into his mailbox and sending a love letter to a girl who had a serious crush on him when she came to him, hugged him and tried to kiss him. When he'd asked Heero if he knew who'd done it, after all, Heero almost spent 24/7 behind a computer, the elder boy had simply nodded in his roommates direction.  
  
So now Duo was literally running for his life.  
  
Duo had been in the orphanage for a few months now. It had been hard in the beginning, that's for sure. First there was Wufei he had to deal with as his roommate. Neither one of the boys liked the presence of the other and eventually they got in a fight and Duo was placed in Heero's room. They didn't 'get along' right away but once Duo'd befriended the young blonde Quatre, things had turned for the better. He'd found out that this place didn't have to be so bad and Quatre was actually a nice kid. A little naïve sometimes perhaps but he'd never deliberately hurt anyone.  
  
After that one event with that jerk Trowa, Heero and Wufei, who'd already been friends, decided Duo should have a second chance and slowly they'd befriended him too.  
  
Trowa's position changed after that day too. He'd gotten into really deep trouble and he was about to be sent away to a stricter orphanage for boys only when suddenly the head of the orphanage, Sally Po, decided to give him another chance. That had come as a surprise for everyone and why she'd decided this way only she and a certain braided youth knew.  
  
Trowa's behaviour had changed too. He'd lost all of his so-called 'friends' and the twin Jeice and Darryl had been transferred to another orphanage because they'd asked for that. Trowa suddenly realised that money couldn't buy anything after all and he'd gotten from the arrogant rich boy to the small and silent one. He'd given up on basketball and spent all of his free time in his room doing. . . Actually, nobody knew what he was doing most of the time since he was one of the few who had a room all to himself. But no one seemed to care anyway.  
  
Sally watched the pair as they stormed out the back door onto the playground in the back yard. Were it any other couple, she would've taken action by now to break the two up, but she knew those boys would work it out by themselves. After all, they always did.  
  
Heero was watching the scene from the library window. He had a clear view of the playground from there and a slight smirk of amusement crept up his face as he tried to read Wufei's lips to see if he could discover some new swearwords.  
  
Quatre walked up to him. "What's going on?" he asked as he stared outside to see what Heero was looking at.  
  
"Duo pulled a sick joke on Wufei."  
  
Quatre sighed. That was to be expected. "What did he do this time?"  
  
"Told that Lucy girl that Wufei's in love with her."  
  
"That's sick."  
  
"Hn."  
  
~ T.B.C. ~  
  
Feedback is welcome, to be on my mailing list, my address is in my profile 


	2. Chapter One: Continue

I got a beta reader, yay!!! Thank you kyandiikonpeitou!  
  
Didn't get many reviews so far, but that may be because I forgot to tell you I won't continue posting without a review. This goes mostly for mediaminer. Don't wanna waste my time. Thanks to those who did review, I appreciate it but I decided I will only react to questions from now on, otherwhise it takes ages to find out where the story starts.  
  
Right here:  
  
Chapter One: Continue  
  
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Duo lay in bed. He was really tired from running away from Wufei in order to survive another day at the orphanage. But as usual Duo just couldn't fall asleep as fast as he wanted. He turned on his back and stared at the ceiling above him. Just one more week until Christmas and only two more days of school until the vacation started. It'd been years since he'd had a decent Christmas meal, come to think of it, he couldn't really remember ever having one. And he wouldn't be Duo if he weren't in for a good meal.  
  
He couldn't help but wonder how it would all turn out, though. He had some boys around him now he might be able to consider 'friends', Wufei spent so much time with Heero and him and Quatre now that he started to become distant with his own usual group. Of course, he was still popular, but he seemed more in his place when around the three of them than he was around the white dragon clan, or that's what his friends and him were called ever since they bought those matching black shirts with a huge white dragon on it.  
  
Duo still disliked being around too many people. Though he was quite positive Heero, Wufei and Quatre wouldn't betray him by telling his secret, you could never know for sure. Trowa wouldn't tell, he was too afraid of the four of them now that he didn't have his 'partners' to back him up anymore. But Jeice and Darryl had been around a few days after the 'incident' before they got transferred. Who knows who they'd talked to or what they'd said?  
  
That aside, Duo still didn't like being among too many people he hardly knew. They all knew he had something to do with Trowa's sudden change in behaviour and with the twins' departure and for the past weeks Duo felt their eyes burning on his back wherever he went. He didn't push them away so hard anymore but that didn't mean he had to like their company all of a sudden, did it?  
  
Suddenly the door to Heero and Duo's room opened and a figure stepped inside. Duo sat up straight immediately, glaring in the figure's direction, while Heero had turned on his bed light and turned it on the intruder who immediately covered his eyes with an arm.  
  
"Heero, it's me." The figure whispered  
  
"Quatre?"  
  
Duo narrowed his eyes on the figure but soon realized it was indeed the young blonde Quatre standing there.  
  
"Q-man! What'ya doin' here in the middle of the night?"  
  
"Oh, I'm really sorry!" The younger boy began apologizing immediately. "I didn't mean to wake you up and scare you or anything, and I shouldn't have come here and. . ."  
  
Duo decided to interrupt his midnight rambling, but he didn't have to anymore seeing that Heero did it for him. "Just tell us why you're here." That boy could do miracles with Quatre around. He always managed to calm him down. Then again, he'd had enough practise with the insecure boy.  
  
"Well, it might sound crazy but I heard something by my window and woke up. When I looked outside there was a boy, o-or a man, I don't know, it was too dark to see you know because of all the lights on the street lit his back but not his front and he was really looking. . ." Heero glared at him to tell him to skip those details. Quatre blinked and turned to Duo. ". . . Anyway, I think he wants you, Duo."  
  
"Huh?" Duo got up from his bed and walked over to the window to glance outside. There was indeed a figure standing outside the gates, hiding in the shadows. When he saw movement at Duo's window he moved into the light of a streetlight, causing Duo to blink in recognition.  
  
"Solo?"  
  
The word was almost too soft for himself to hear but Heero had picked it up anyway. He walked over to the window and glanced outside too, but the figure had already moved back into the shadows.  
  
Duo sat back on his bed and started to get his pants on.  
  
"Y-you're not really going out there, are you?" Quatre asked, not believing what he saw. "But that's against the rules!"  
  
Duo looked up for a second before starting to tie his shoes. "Some things are more important that rules." Then he looked at the other boys. "You'll keep your mouth about this, right?" He looked at Quatre who nodded, still slightly confused. Then he turned to Heero who had a slight smirk on his face.  
  
"Only if you let me come with you."  
  
Duo blinked. "What?" He couldn't believe Heero would do that! But then he saw the playful glint in his roommates eyes. He sighed. The middle of the night was not a good time to be playing jokes on him. "You always enjoy butting in on private conversations."  
  
Although it would be funny to see how Heero would manage to climb down from four floors high. He got Heero's jacket and threw it to his friend.  
  
Heero, who hadn't expected this, looked up at his friend. But now it was Duo's time to smirk. "If I get busted, you can keep me company in my punishment." He said while putting on his own jacket. Then he walked to the window and opened it.  
  
"You two aren't really going to climb out, are you?" Quatre asked worried.  
  
"Yeah, we are." Duo replied, looking down to see how he was going to do this. Good thing the drain pipe was right next to his window. He'd have to get down to the ledge below his window first to reach it, though. But he'd had more difficult missions than that. He just hoped Heero would be all right "Wanna come too, Q-man?"  
  
The blonde pressed his back against the door and hastily shook his head. "I- I'll stay here. I'm not that keen on climbing."  
  
Duo nodded and began climbing out of the window. When he was almost down, a now fully dressed Heero followed him out.  
  
Solo had climbed over the gates and was walking towards Duo and Heero now, making sure he stayed in the shadows.  
  
When they met neither of them knew how to behave.  
  
"About time." Solo finally joked, trying to break the tension. He sent a quick glance towards Heero before turning to Duo. "I've been throwing stones for ages!"  
  
"Solo." Duo said, still not sure whether to be mad at this boy or happy to see him, knowing he was alright. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I'm sorry, Duo." The elder boy began while focussing his gaze to a point in front of his feet. "I've been thinking about what you said last time I was here and. . . I guess I was just jealous that you got this chance while the rest of us were still down on the streets." Solo looked up straight into Duo's eyes. "You were right, you really do deserve this chance."  
  
Duo seemed shocked. He had never dared deaming Solo would return. The look of betrayal he'd seen in the boy's eyes still managed to send shivers down his spine. Yet now he was here, apologising, saying Duo had been right. "Well, I guess I could've been more thoughtful, though, about what I said. After everything you've done for me."  
  
"Yea, you really helped me out a lot. . ."  
  
That was when Duo realized Solo was hiding something from him. It wasn't like hiding. It was more like dreading to tell. "What's wrong, Solo?" He asked. "What happened?"  
  
Solo closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them, Duo was surprised to find guilt in them. ". . .I turned them in." The elder boy whispered.  
  
"You. . . What?!" Duo was sure he'd heard that wrong. He cursed himself mentally as he realised how loud he'd expressed his surprise. But that was not the real issue here. He heard it wrong, right?  
  
"Duo, after you were gone Saria tried her best to replace you, but it just wasn't enough. I couldn't take care of them anymore. Not without you. So I- I contacted Marquise, the one in charge that night of your arrest and tonight he came and took them."  
  
Duo wasn't sure how to react so he just stared at the boy in front of him. Finally he was able to open his mouth. "You spoke to him?"  
  
"Duo, I had no choice." Solo's eyes seemed to beg Duo for understanding, but Duo was unsure of what to think. "I couldn't take care of them and Marquise guarantied me that they'd be fine and that they'd be placed in a good home too so that they had a chance too. I know he's a cop but I also know that he's an honorable one compared to the others and I have no choice but to trust that he is true about his word. I'm sorry Duo, I had no choice." He added silently.  
  
Duo nodded, but didn't understand. He gave them in? Willingly? He sold them out to Marquise? It took him a moment before he calmed down and let the boy's other words get trough to him. It was then that he felt a twist in his stomach, knowing Solo was right about doing this. But that didn't change the fact that he sold them out. You don't do that to your friends! "They'll hate you for this, you know that?"  
  
"I know, but it's for the best. If they hate me they won't run off to the streets again. It's no place for a six-year-old to grow up."  
  
Again, Duo nodded, understanding that Solo meant the youngest of their group who had turned six only a few days before Duo got caught.  
  
"And what about you?" He asked. "Why didn't you let them catch you too? You could have the same future as the rest of us."  
  
Solo smiled and shook his head. "I'll turn seventeen soon, remember? I told Marquise I was the one responsible for all the breaking in and stuff to save the others from any harm. But because of my age they'd probably want to judge me as an adult for everything and then I won't stand a chance." He sighed. "I'm leaving tonight to clear my name, build a new future with a job and a place and everything, Duo. But I felt like you had the right to know this. Even after what happened I know you're probably still mad at me but. . . I just couldn't leave without saying goodbye. Not you."  
  
For probably the first time in his entire life Duo couldn't find himself to speak. He didn't know what to say and even if he did it would be no use because no sound would've come out of his mouth.  
  
Solo, thinking the silence meant that Duo didn't care or something, nodded and turned around, ready to walk away. Duo cursed the midnight for he blamed his former state upon that hour and ran up to Solo. He placed his hand on the elder boy's shoulder and forced him to face him.  
  
"Solo. . ." Words couldn't describe what he felt right now but he knew that like all those other times his eyes would say enough. "Thank you." He whispered.  
  
Solo smiled reassuringly. "If you ever need me, I'm going to. . ."  
  
"No! Don't tell me. The less I know the less I can tell, right?" Duo smiled at his friend, knowing he'd understand. "Marquise is sure to drop by now that he still has no-one to blame for anything."  
  
Solo nodded and smiled faintly at Duo who simply smiled back.  
  
'Ah, what the heck'  
  
Duo suddenly started hugging the boy in a comforting way, knowing they would have to part now and they would probably never see each other again. And Solo hugged him back. In a way they knew this was what they both wanted. Hard as it was, they had to follow their own paths from now on. They knew it, they understood it, but that didn't make any of this easier.  
  
'Why do goodbyes always have to be so goddamn difficult?'  
  
They finally broke their hug and Solo said it was time to go. After a last meaningful glance from both friends Solo shot off in the dark to probably never return again, carrying with him memories only he and Duo shared.  
  
Duo turned back and realized he'd completely forgotten about Heero. The boy didn't seem to mind, though, he was leaning against the building, arms crossed, watching Duo's every movement.  
  
While Duo walked back to him he glanced at the building. He saw something move behind one of the windows. He narrowed his eyes on it.  
  
'Shit!'  
  
Trowa had been watching the whole scene! How long had he been standing there? This was not good. That boy could once again ruin everything!  
  
Duo knew he had to make sure the other youth would keep his mouth shut, but he decided it was too late to think about that now. He'd get to him in the morning.  
  
"You get up first." He said as he reached Heero. The boy nodded and started his way up to their window again. Duo stared at him realizing he hadn't paid attention to him at all on his way down. He didn't seem to have trouble climbing up though. Duo's gaze went from the other boy's head down to his feet and back up, resting at his butt.  
  
'Nice. . .'  
  
He mentally kicked himself for that and told himself he was thinking about his way of climbing up instead of a body part his eyes happened to like. He pushed away the funny feeling in his stomach, blaming it on the time of the night and rubbed his eyes before he started his own way up. It was much too late for this now.  
  
Once back into their room, he noticed Quatre had already left. Heero went back to his bed and Duo sighed and did the same. With an empty feeling he fell into a dreamless sleep.  
  
# *~* #  
  
Duo woke up the next day having a rare relieved feeling. He thought he would feel sad for losing his best friend once again, but he didn't. He couldn't describe it quite as happiness, but it wasn't all that negative felling either. Somewhere deep inside of him he felt like everything would be all right. Maybe this was because it had happened to him before. He had 'lost' Solo when he got arrested and he had settled it then. Later Solo had come to take him back, but Duo had declined this and lost his friend again. Somehow he had the feeling this loss wouldn't be forever either. He couldn't quite explain it, but he felt like they would soon meet yet again.  
  
For that reason, Duo forced himself not to think about it too much. He really didn't want to get his hopes up. Because if he did and Solo never came back, he'd be feeling more lonely than he could imagine even now. No prison cell could go up against that.  
  
He sighed as he got up. Heero was nowhere to be found so he was probably downstairs already. He was always up early and usually he went to the library before school started to surf on the net for another hour. Works faster early in the morning when most people are still asleep. He could always use his own computer, but the connection with the internet wasn't half as good from there as it was from the library so he preferred that over his own computer. If he needed anything he would just mail it to himself and open in his room.  
  
Duo folded the third blanket Heero had given him and put it down on the feet end of the bed. He used to give it back to Heero each morning, but since the youth returned it each night anyway, they decided it would be much less trouble if he just kept it.  
  
On his way downstairs, Duo came across Trowa, who was also on his way to have breakfast. Strange. Duo could've sworn that boy went early in the morning lately, when it wasn't too crowded.  
  
For a few meters neither of the boys spoke, but eventually the rich boy decided to open his mouth. But there was no hint of anger or dislike in the boy's voice. He was calm and he almost sounded. . . kind?  
  
'Yeah right.'  
  
"You seemed pretty close to him, who was he?" He said, knowing Duo knew exactly what he was talking about. "Was he your boyfriend?"  
  
At this Duo stopped dead in his tracks. He narrowed his eyes as he shot the other youth a deadly look and with a threatening voice he warned him. "No, he was not my 'boyfriend' and if you even dare to say one word about him to anyone I swear I'll make you regret you were even born with a mouth to talk with."  
  
For a moment neither moved. Duo kept glaring at Trowa who hadn't even given the slightest hint of a flinch at his words. Then finally the rich boy nodded.  
  
"I understand."  
  
Then, without another thing to acknowledge the braided youth's presence, the other boy walked away in the posture he usually had the past few weeks; head slightly bowed, hands in his pockets. Duo couldn't do anything but stare after him, confused by the slender boy's reaction. Then he narrowed his eyes once again.  
  
'He'd better understand'  
  
Then he followed the youth to breakfast.  
  
~ T.B.C. ~  
  
Please remember the contest sarahdbz and I are holding. For details, check prologue.  
  
Like it? No review, no continue 


	3. Chapter Two: Old friends

Battousai: They will get together somewhere in this fic. And about Trowa and Quatre, that was not something you can vote about so I won't tell. . .Sorry, authors are evil  
  
Chapter Two: Old friends  
  
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Three days after the night Solo had come to say goodbye it was Saturday, the first day of a two weeks vacation. Duo was rather glad it was vacation now. He hadn't been very active with his schoolwork lately because everytime he found himself thinking about Solo. He had said he would clear his name, find a job, get an apartement and stuff, but he wondered how Solo was going to get all that done. He knew the boy could survive on the streets, but could he also survive off the streets and in an apartement? Could he keep the job? Could he take care of himself now that he didn't have to worry about other poeple anymore?  
  
Duo just hoped the boy was alright, wherever he was.  
  
All that thinking brought him to another problem, how were the kids doing? Were they together or had they ended up in different orphanages? Did they like it there? Could they find their turn? But most of all, were they treated right?  
  
Miss Noin had told Duo that the orphanage he used to live in was closed down after they found out the children were being abused, physically as well as sexually. Slowly, Duo was starting to trust the woman more and more, but not yet to an extent where he could tell her what had happened to him. Besides the fact that he just didn't want to talk about it, he also seemed to have forgotten most of it. He didn't mind that, though. The nightmares had stopped a long time ago, shortly after he'd met Solo and for a moment he had been afraid they would return now that he was here in this orphanage, but they never had. It was just a part of a past that no longer existed and therefor seemed so unimportant. Duo did his best not to remember.  
  
Anyway, today was Saturday and on Saturday Duo was never awake and out of bed before at least noon. Though today he was. He woke up before 9 o'clock and for some reason couldn't get back to sleep anymore. And damn did he hate that. No matter how much he wanted to turn around, close his eyes and drift off to sleep again, it didn't work. After half an hour he decided to get up.  
  
He glanced at the other bed in the room and was surprised to see Heero's sleeping figure still in there. Now that was a rare thing."Damn it," he muttered, "this is embarrassing. Even HE is still asleep."  
  
He yawned and got up to shower and get dressed. He silently left the room and headed downstairs to see if he could get something to eat. Three tables were set for breakfast and a few kids were eating some. One table had been reserved for the basketball team of the orphanage, but they'd left already and the table was now being cleaned. They had a game today and it was a two- hour drive by bus, so they'd left early. Two hours wasn't exactly around the corner, but the team was pretty good and they played in a pretty high competition.  
  
Duo, not feeling like sitting down all by himself to have breakfast -he never had breakfast on Saturdays, his weekend always started with lunch- snatched something to eat and headed for the gym while eating his breakfast. He didn't know where else to go so he thought that maybe he could do. . . something, anything there. When he passed the front door on his way to the gym, the door opened and three soaked figures, two grown ups and a kid, walked in. Duo glanced outside and saw it was raining. He looked at whoever was stupid enough to walk trough this rain. The first one he recognized was the female grown up.  
  
'Miss Noin? What is she doing here on a Saturday?'  
  
He glanced at other adult, a man somewhere in his early twenties with long blonde hair and a strict face. Miss Noin's boyfriend perhaps? The third person had a cap over the head so Duo couldn't see whether it was a boy or a girl. The trio took their coats off and now Duo could see whom it was Miss Noin had brought here.  
  
Duo's eyes grew wide as he recognised the brown haired girl. She hadn't seen him yet but now she looked in his direction. A bewildered glance met his eyes but then recognition on her side kicked in too.  
  
"Duo?" She whispered as if she wasn't ready to believe it.  
  
"Saria!"  
  
"Duo!" The girl now ran towards Duo. He saw the man reaching out for her, but Miss Noin stopped him with a gesture of her hand. But Duo didn't care about them right now as he concentrated on the girl. She flung her arms around his neck, causing them both to fall down, Duo on his butt and Saria right on top of him. Duo tried to put up a painful face, but as their eyes met again he couldn't help but grinning at her, causing her to smile too at the embarrassing pose. She climbed off him and the two got up.  
  
"Saria, what'ya doin' here?"  
  
She blinked at him. The she started telling. "Duo, it was so scary! They were everywhere! The cops! We all got arrested and and only Solo got away because he wasn't there in the first place and then we all got separated and now miss Noin says I have to live here. I was so scared, Duo!" Then she was silent for a moment, searching for comfort in the elder boy's eyes. Then she suddenly hugged him and buried her wet face in his chest. "Oh Duo, We were so worried about you! All of us got out that night and then Solo came and we ran but you never came to find us and we had no idea what happened to you!"  
  
That was when Duo's protective instincts kicked in. He hugged the sobbing girl back in a comforting embrace in an attempt to calm her down. And it was working. "Ssh, it's alright, I'm here now and you're safe." She looked up at him and he gently brushed her tears away.  
  
"Duo, Solo was nowhere and he never came back for us!" Saria said. "We thought he would come back for us and we waited but he didn't and then the cops came and arrested us, it's not fair! What if he got hurt or something? But no one would believe us! They didn't even care."  
  
"I know that, Saria." Duo tried to comfort the smaller girl. "Don't worry, Solo's fine."  
  
"You know?" She asked confused. "But, how. . .?"  
  
"He was here the night you got arrested." Duo explained in a soft voice, feeling that he owed at least that to her. "He told me what happened but he's alright."  
  
That was when the blond boy spoke up. "So, he was here, was he? Tell me, boy, where did he go?" He said in a demanding voice.  
  
Duo blinked and looked up at the man. He recognised that voice. He glanced at the man's face and his long blond hair and then started grinning, doing his best not to burst out in laughter.  
  
"No way, Zechs Marquise!" He couldn't hold it anymore and burst out in laughter. He had never seen that man's face, but now that he knew what it looked like, it was far different from what he'd expected. And of course, this being Zechs Marquise meant he was worth the mocking laugh. "Ha, I always wondered what you looked like under that mask of yours!" He said as he finally got his laughter under control.  
  
Zechs glared at the youth and was about to yell at him when miss Noin came walking up and grabbed his hand to calm him down. But the man could not let this just pass by so eventually he muttered a 'blunt as ever, are we'. He kept glaring at the youth.  
  
"If you know more about Solo's whereabouts, tell me now boy!"  
  
whoops. . .Busted! No way he was going to turn his friend in. Solo had made a choice and damn all the world to hell if he was going to stand in the way. Good thing he didn't let Solo tell him exactly where it was he went. At least now Zech couldn't force it out of him either. So he decided to tell the cop just that. "I don't know where he is, he just came by to tell me the others got arrested."  
  
But Marquise didn't buy it. "You know more than that!" He narrowed his eyes on the youth as he brought himself to Duo's height. "You do know it is illegal to keep information from an officer, don't you?"  
  
Duo now glared back at him. "So, sue me. I told you he didn't say where he'd go. He'd be stupid to say where he was going in case YOU came looking for him!"  
  
"You should've told me he was here when he was here, brat."  
  
At that moment Sally stepped in. She glanced at Duo who had taken a protective stance in front of Saria and then glanced at Marquise. "Mister Peacecraft, with all do respect, I would prefer civilized use of language in this building.  
  
Peacecraft? As in THE Peacecraft? The richest and most powerful company in the world, Peacecraft? But he decided to ignore that in order to piss Zechs PEACECRAFT off a little more. Duo gave Marquise a look of 'so there' but one glance at Sally was enough to make him drop that look immediately.  
  
Sally now turned to the girl behind Duo. "You must be Saria. I'm Sally Po, the head master of this orphanage. I believe you already know Duo over there?" The young girl nodded shy. "If you will follow me we can get you signed in here."  
  
Saria nervously glanced from Duo to Miss Noin, but after they both showed her it was alright to go, she walked over to Sally, followed by Miss Noin and Marquise, who couldn't resist glaring a warning look at the boy before he disappeared out of view.  
  
"That girl was one of your group?"  
  
Duo spun around to see Wufei leaning against the wall, carrying a. . . Katana? "Who you gonna kill this early in the morning, Wuffy?"  
  
"I was going to the gym to train, Maxwell. But if you insist I don't mind killing you."  
  
"I didn't know you did sword fighting, but no thanks. You can kill Marquise for me, though." Duo joked. "He went that way."  
  
"Hm, you honestly didn't know that was Milliardo Peacecraft when you spoke to him that way, did you?" Wufei started heading for the gym, followed by Duo.  
  
"Well, how was I supposed to know?"  
  
"The news, perhaps?"  
  
"I don't watch the news." Duo groaned as it seemed to get trough to him who he had been cursing at all those times back in jail. It was just too early for this. "Man, and to think I actually used to feel sorry for whoever that Peacecraft-guy was. His parents must've been really obsessed with their money, calling their son Milliardo. Even Wufei is a better name than that."  
  
Wufei glared at him and held his katana up. "You wish to keep that braid of yours or not?" Wufei said through gritted teeth.  
  
Duo grinned and held his hand up. "Woah, keep that thing down, will ya. You could actually hurt someone with that!" Wufei put his hand down again. And for a moment the duo continued their way in silence.  
  
"Hey Wufei," Duo broke the silence, "if that was Milliardo Peacecraft and Milliardo Peacecraft is Zechs Marquise and Zechs Marquise is a cop, then who's going to take over the company? I thought Milliardo was the heir?"  
  
"You never pay attention to anything, do you?" The Chinese muttered. "His sister Relena is the heir now. She'll take over."  
  
"Relena? Yeah, I've heard of her! Didn't know she was a Peacecraft, though."  
  
They had now reached the gym and Wufei opened the door and walked in. Duo wanted to follow him, but Wufei blocked the way. "Where do you think you're going?"  
  
"I'm gonna watch you, of course."  
  
"No you're not. You will distract me."  
  
"Aww, but Wufei, who else am I going to annoy at this hour?"  
  
Wufei shrugged. "Bug Heero out of his bed for all I care."  
  
Duo blinked but then he grinned. "Wuffy, that's the first good idea I've heard you suggesting in a long while, actually, make that ever!" And with a huge grin on his face the braided one walked away from the gym, throwing the door shut in his excitement.  
  
Less than ten minutes later the door to the gym opened and a just awoken and enraged Heero stalked inside, breaking the Chinese boy's concentration.  
  
"WUFEI!!!"  
  
# *~* #  
  
The next Tuesday afternoon Duo and Saria were to be found together in the game room. They silently sat on the couch watching some other people play pool.  
  
Duo had spent a great deal of the weekend and the Monday with Saria. She was obviously scared of what was to come. She had been living on the streets for nearly 3 years and it's hard to get used to life inside then. The girl had the same problems Duo'd had to deal with, the feeling of being locked up, alone and misunderstood. It had gone easier for her though, her roommate Karin, a cheerful 14-year-old girl, had been nice to her from the start. Even though it'd only been three days since she arrived, they looked as if they could become good friends and Duo was really glad for her. But that didn't stop him from watching her, he kept having that same protective feeling over her because he of all people knew that adjusting wasn't always easy. And she needed him around, if only to feel safe.  
  
Because he'd spent so much time with her he'd hardly seen his other friends. Quatre had asked Duo over to his room a couple of times, but Duo had declined all. He'd explained the situation to Quatre and he was sure the young blonde understood why he was doing this. After all, when he needed it, he'd spent a lot of time with him too.  
  
They sat there quietly, shoulders touching as if to reassure each other's presence, both lost in their own thoughts. Duo was thinking of Christmas. Tomorrow night it would be Chrismas Eve. What was he supposed to do then? The whole orphanage was decorated and everybody was cheerful. He knew they were going to have a Christmas meal but would he have to dress formally? He sure hoped not, he preferred his own usual, easy clothes. He wouldn't like wearing a tuxedo or whatever formal they'd expect him to wear. He didn't even have formal clothes!  
  
He could try to ask someone, but whom? He wouldn't ask Wufei, that boy would say tuxedo just for the fun of seeing the boy all dressed up in the middle of plainly clothed poeple. Or the other way around, perhaps. Yeah, that was just Wufei's kind of humor. He wouldn't be asking Heero either, for some reason he felt too proud to do that. Or rather, he didn't want the perfect boy to know he wasn't perfect.  
  
'Guess Quatre is the only one left then, eh?'  
  
Duo thought about it a moment. He wasn't sure Quatre could keep this to himself, in his innocence he could accidentally tell the others, he was the kind of person who did that. And Duo didn't want to ask him not to tell the others, that would sound so stupid. So how was he going to prevent the others from finding out?  
  
But before he could think of that, the door to the game-room opened and two girls strode in, heading straight for Saria. Duo recognised the blonde one as Karin, Saria's roommate. The other one looked about thirteen, the girl with long brown hair, tied together in a ponytail and skyblue eyes.  
  
Karin spoke. "Hey Saria, wanna join me and Cathy to the mall? We're going to rent a few movies and I thought you'd wanna come since we wanted to ask you if you wanna watch them with us tonight."  
  
Duo blinked at her high voice. He wondered if she always talked so fast, it was hardly understandable. But obviously Saria had understood what she'd said as she looked at Duo questioningly as if to ask his permession.  
  
Duo grinned and threw his hands in the air. "Hey, don't look at me! They're your friends, your fun!"  
  
Saria smiled back and hugged him, whispering a 'thanks' before she got up.  
  
The moment she was out of sight, Duo's smile vanished. He felt as if he shouldn't have let her go, but who was he really to tell her not to go and have fun? He wanted her to be happy, didn't he? Then why was he acting so... overprotective? But he quickly shrugged it off as the door to the game room opened once again, this time revealing the blonde Quatre. Duo put on a smile again.  
  
"Good, I figured you'd be here..." The younger one glanced around. "Where's the girl?" he asked in an almost accusing voice.  
  
"She's not here. So, what'cha want me for?" He asked, cheerful as ever.  
  
Quatre now looked back at him. He suddenly sounded a lot more cheerful. "Me and Heero and Wufei are going out to get Christmas presents. Wanna come?" Then his voice dropped again. "Or do you have a certain appointment?"  
  
At that Duo got up and flung one arm around Quatre, slightly leaning on him. "Q-man, you jealous?" he joked, realizing to his surprise that the younger boy was indeed jealous. "You know you're my number one favorite person, I'd never let you down!"  
  
Apparently this did the youth some good as he passed him a warm smile. "So, you're coming with us then?"  
  
"Yeah, sure! Let's go!" Duo grinned, this time a real one.  
  
'This saves me the trouble of asking them.'  
  
~ T.B.C. ~  
  
Please remember the contest sarahdbz and I are holding. For details, check prologue.  
  
Like it? No review, no continue 


	4. Chapter Three: Shopping part 1

Chapter Three: Shopping part 1  
  
------  
  
The four boys decided to take the bus to the mall. They could've walked, it was still early in the afternoon and it wasn't really that far away, but the rain was coming down pretty hard outside and the bus stop was just across the street from their orphanage. They didn't have to wait long for the bus to come; Wufei knew at what time it would stop so they left just a few minutes earlier. Still the rain had gone trough their thin rain clothing by the time the bus arrived and now their clothes under that were wet as well.  
  
After they had paid the bus started driving, causing the boys to hold onto the chairs as they walked to find some empty seats. The bus wasn't empty but there were still enough seats left.. In the front were two elder people, probably husband and wife. The man was dressed in a long, grey raincoat and he wore a grey hat. All that was needed was a pipe and he would look just like one of those detectives you always see in cartoons, only a lot older and less handsome.  
  
The woman had drawn something over her hair to protect it against the rain as well., but Duo doubted that thing would do any good. It looked so thin. Her raincoat on the other hand seemed thick. Duo guessed she had a normal jacket under it as well to protect her from the cold where the raincoat alone would fail.  
  
The pair nodded politely as the four boys walked by.  
  
Besides the elderly male and female there was also a couple with little kids, doing their best to keep the bored little brats from destroying the bus. However, when they literally ran into Heero and glanced up to meet his death glare they gulped and quickly retreated to their parents' side, the youngest one quietly sobbing and burying her face in her mother's chest.  
  
Duo snickered earning a death glare from Heero as well and decided not to say what he was about to say. Quatre, who was in the front, judged this little scene and decided to find them seats as far away from this family as possible, for everybody's sake.  
  
Further on the bus were two girls younger than them chatting happily, one girl who looked about their age, scowling out of the window to nothing in particular while listening to music from her discman, oblivious to her surroundings, and a mother with a slightly handicapped girl. The back seats were taken by some loud boys who looked about nineteen or twenty. They paid absolutely no attention to the four boys looking for seats as they were flipping trough some sex magazines.  
  
Finally Quatre settled down where four seats were free. Without a word Heero took the seat opposite of the blonde. Wufei looked at his wet clothes and muttered some curse words under his breath while taking the seat next to Heero. Last to sit was Duo, who took the empty seat next to Quatre, grinning at the scowling Chinese youth who was still focussing on his wet white pants.  
  
When the bus stopped because of a stop-light the Chinese boy finally looked up straight into the grinning face of his friend. He sighed agitated before he spoke up. "What is it now, Maxwell?"  
  
"You're wearing white pants. . ." The grinning youth answered.  
  
"Yeah, so?"  
  
". . .And black underwear."  
  
"What!" Wufei shot up but immediately that turned out to be a mistake as the bus-driver chose that exact moment to pull up again, causing Wufei, who had been sitting in a seat opposite of Maxwell, going backwards, to fall forward on top of Duo who desperately tried to move out of the way but found out that he wasn't fast enough.  
  
"Please remain seated, young men!" The bus-driver called back irritated while Wufei was doing his best to get up from his hugging position as gracefully as possible, muttering even more curse-words.  
  
Duo, who still seemed to find the whole scene very funny, decided the humiliation wasn't over just yet. He patted the Chinese boy on his back in a soothing way. "Yeah, I love you too."  
  
"Shut up." The smaller one replied as he finally managed to get up and back in his own seat.  
  
Duo noticed that even Heero found this situation amusing as his lips gave the slightest hints of a smirk. Suddenly the braided boy realized he had never seen his roommate even smile. Sure, he'd smirked a few times, but that was not what Duo meant. He couldn't help wondering what the elder boy would look like if he really laughed. He couldn't imagine it but was sure it would look great.  
  
Quatre was less amused by the whole situation a looked a bit worried. "Are you okay?" The blonde asked. "You wanna turn back and change?"  
  
"No." This answer came from Heero instead of Wufei. All three blinked at him. "We're not turning back, he should've thought of that sooner." His tone clearly left no place to argue.  
  
Duo looked at him questioningly, wondering if this was Heero's idea of annoying Wufei on purpose or if he was just agitated by the whole situation now, but his roommate offered him no answer as he turned his head to look out of the window. Duo sighed. When was he ever going to understand that boy?  
  
The rest of the ride the four boys talked about nothing important. Or rather, Duo and Quatre were having a conversation and Heero continued to stare out of the window while Wufei muttered some curse words at random small 'events'.  
  
Unlike the bus, the mall was very crowded. Lots of people had obviously decided to do some last-minute shopping today for the upcoming festivities. Besides that, Santa Claus was stationed in the middle of the mall today to greet the little kids.  
  
The old man in the red suit reminded Duo of when he was little. In the first year he had met Solo the elder boy had taken him to the mall with Christmas and told him to go talk to Santa Claus. When the old man asked him what he wanted for Christmas he kept his mouth shut at first. But when Santa reassured him he could tell him he whispered in his ear that he wanted a mommy or a daddy so he could live in a house. Santa had taken the boy to a special room and told him to wait there and so he did, until Solo entered the room looking for him. He had told the elder boy what happened and when he'd told him what he had said to Santa, Solo had grabbed his hand and as two cops were about to enter the room, they rushed out of it, running away from the mall.  
  
From that day on Duo tended to avoid all people dressed in red.  
  
The four boys glanced around for a moment.  
  
"Well, we're here. Now what do we do?" Duo asked, getting the others' attention.  
  
"It'd go faster if we split up in pairs." Wufei suggested. "That way everything will remain a surprise for the others."  
  
Heero and Quatre nodded while Duo just waited for them to decide.  
  
"How about me and Heero go and Duo and Quatre?" Wufei then suggested. Duo felt a sudden bolt in his stomach. Not a painful one, but it was there. Like one of those things you get when you're disappointed or something. He wondered what was going on. Why would he be disappointed? This was the perfect opportunity for him to ask Quatre how things were supposed to go involving these upcoming days without having the others around to think of him as weird. That was an advantage, right?  
  
The other boys nodded as well but before they parted Quatre drew their attention. "Uhm. Shouldn't we switch sooner or later?" He started. "I mean, that way Duo and I won't know what we bought for each other and neither will you."  
  
Wufei nodded and glanced at his watch. "It's one o'clock now and considering the crowd we'll need a while so how about we meet here back at two-thirty to get a snack and switch?"  
  
After they'd agreed on that Heero and Wufei walked off to one side and Quatre and Duo to the other side. Suddenly Quatre stopped walking. Duo, who hadn't expected this could stop just in time to avoid bumping into his friend, but the woman behind him had no such luck. She bumped into the braided youth and glared at him. She told him to watch where he was going and walked off muttering something about the youth these days.  
  
Duo ignored her and turned to Quatre. "What's up, Q?"  
  
"Uhm... have you got a watch?"  
  
Duo shook his head. "Nuh uh." He never wore any kind of jewellery used to be too expensive and he hadn't gotten round to buying something now. He didn't miss it so why bother spending money on it just so that you can get used to it and missing it next time it got lost.  
  
The blonde youth muttered something that sounded like a 'damn' but Duo wasn't sure because he was too busy to listen as he realised why the boy had asked. He turned around to see if he could still locate Heero or Wufei, but they were already lost somewhere in the crowd.  
  
He shrugged and spoke to Quatre in his cheerful tone. "Well, then there's nothing else for them to do than wait until we arrive back here."  
  
Quatre muttered something about an angry Wufei and surely an agitated Heero but again, his true words were lost in the sounds of the crowd.  
  
"So," Quatre said first, "where do you wanna go look first?"  
  
Duo shrugged. "Dunno, this'll be my first Christmas off the streets."  
  
Quatre blinked. . . And Quatre blinked again. . . And Quatre opened his mouth to speak, but all he managed to do was blink again. . . "You. . ." he mumbled when he had finally found his voice. "You. . . never had Christmas?"  
  
Duo shrugged. "On the streets people aren't so lucky, y'know."  
  
"But. . . that's not fair!" The blonde argued. "Christmas is something. . . special! Everybody should be celebrating it! You didn't do anything about it?"  
  
"Well, we got ourselves desert."  
  
"But no presents, no singing by the tree or anything like that?" The braided one shook his head but the blond still couldn't believe it. They had now reached the bookshop but instead of entering it Quatre halted in front of it, stopping the flow of people around him from entering or exiting the shop. Completely oblivious to his surroundings he faced the ground. "But. . . That's not fair."  
  
"Hey, watch it, slowpoke!"  
  
The harsh voice caused Quatre to snap back to reality. He looked up to where the voice had come from only to stare into a large, muscular face of a man in his late-twenties. The man glared back at him.  
  
"Move it, brat!" The man roughly pushed him aside as he walked past, muttering curse words under his breath. Quatre fell down on his butt but did nothing but just blink. The man was quickly followed by a girl with a book in her hands. As the girl passed Quatre she shot him a grin, apparently approving of her boyfriend's actions and then hugged the man's arm just before the two of them disappeared into the crowd. All this time, Quatre was just lost for words and he seemed as if he hadn't even realized what was going on yet.  
  
Duo rushed to Quatre's side, offering him a hand to help him up. "Q-man, you okay?" he asked worriedly.  
  
Quatre, who looked as if he were confused as to how he ended up sitting on the ground, took Duo's hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. He wiped the dirt off his pants and scratched his head.  
  
"Ok. . . Yeah, I'm fine. . . Rules involving Christmas. . . Right."  
  
Duo frowned. The blonde looked quite off. He wondered what could've gotten the youth so disturbed. Was it really just the fact that Duo had never had Christmas before? "Are you sure you're all right? We can just sit down for a moment. There's enough time for us anyway."  
  
"Yes, no, I'm fine. Let's continue." The young blonde now entered the bookshop. Hesitantly Duo followed.  
  
"Rules are simple." The smaller boy began. "You know we've already given Sally our wish list, she gets an amount of money per child for slightly bigger Christmas presents each year which will be placed under the big Christmas tree in the living room today."  
  
Duo nodded. He understood that much when he was asked for his wish list.  
  
"The rest is simple. To not discriminate those with few friends or little money, you're allowed to buy each of your friends one small gift, no more, just to show friendship. You can place them under the tree tonight and on Christmas morning they will be unpacked along with the other gifts. And that's it really."  
  
Duo thought it over. "One small gift each, huh? How much may it cost?"  
  
Quatre shrugged. "There's not really a limit but it just shouldn't be too expensive. If you want to buy a book it should be a cheaper one."  
  
"And you're gonna buy a book?." Quatre nodded as he now turned his attention to the books. Duo looked them over and saw they had reached the cultural section. "Who are you gonna buy a book?"  
  
"Hmm, Wufei. He likes to read."  
  
"He does?" Duo wondered. He had spent his first few weeks with the Chinese youth in one room but he had been too busy with self-pity back then that he hadn't paid much attention to the other boy. Much less what he was doing.  
  
"A book, hm?" Duo wandered off a little by himself. He had no idea what to buy any of them, but a book for Wufei didn't seem like a bad idea. But what about? What were the boy's interests really besides meditating? Then his eyes fell on a book about martial arts. That could be something. He DID know the Chinese one liked sword fighting.  
  
It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for. A book about swordfighting. He didn't know how far Wufei was, though and buying him a book below his level would surely be an insult to the boy's pride so he decided on a book for advanced fighters. Looking at the contents of the book he decided t would have to do. It wasn't just techniques anyway, it was also something about the history of swordfighting and something on differnt swords.  
  
He walked back to Quatre to see that he had also made his choice already. He had chosed one on Asian culture. Together they headed for the long line to purchase the books.  
  
Quatre glanced at Duo's choice. "Sword fighting. Nice." He approved. "Wufei's good at that martial arts stuff. Wish I could do any of it."  
  
The shopping for Heero was a lot harder. Neither had an idea of what to buy the Japanese boy. Quatre finally settle with a CD holder. Duo was set on buying something to keep his roommate from the computer. But what else did he like? Finally a little devil entered his mind telling him to buy a set of cards and teach him how to play solitaire. That should keep the computer nerd off the computer.  
  
Then Duo remembered he should get something for Saria as well. He bought her a cute little forever-friends bear holding a crayon in one hand and a piece of paper in the other on which he seemingly had written the small text:  
  
'Friendship never dies'  
  
It wasn't a big present but he knew that for the girl it was enough. He knew it would be. She would understand the meaning and she would like this more than anything else he could buy.  
  
As he watched the bear he suddenly remembered Solo and a pang shot trough his heart as he remembered the goodbye the boy had said only two weeks ago. They would never meet again. Duo had also given up all hopes of ever seeing the other kids again. That was what hurt him the most, not knowing whether or not they were alright. They were so young and fragile and needed someone they could trust, someone to protect them. What were they going to do in a big, scary orphanage with all those strange kids there? And what if they were separated? Then they'd be all-alone.  
  
For a moment Duo was completely lost in thoughts and memories of their 'clan'. Quatre's voice was unable to bring him back and it wasn't until the blonde laid his hand on the braided boy's shoulder that Duo remembered where he was again. He quickly paid for the little bear and shoved it in his pocket out of his eyesight.  
  
~ T.B.C. ~  
  
If you want to be on my mailing list, my e-mail address is in my profile  
  
Please remember the contest sarahdbz and I are holding. For details, check prologue.  
  
Like it? No review, no continue 


	5. Chapter Four: Shopping part 2

A/N: So, so sorry I completely forgot to update last week! I went to bed last Wednesday and was like (sorry :P) I know I'm forgetting something. OMG! I FORGOT TO UPDATE!!! I'm so sorry, but I was too busy with school and I had a good talk with my parents about next year (I'm graduating this year) and it was really important and helpful. So I'm sorry, but here's your next chapter.  
  
Oh, and a lot of people have been asking me when Heero and Duo get together. All I can tell you is that this story is a get-together so you'll have to wait for that for a while, but it will happen! However, so far I will only give you hints of what Duo wants. Quatre and Trowa is a different story though, I won't tell you whether or not they end up together. Just read and find out.  
  
Chapter Four: Shopping part 2  
  
------  
  
When Duo and Quatre got back to where they were supposed to meet Wufei and Heero, the other boys were already waiting. They were both leaning against the wall, bags in-between them, arms crossed, Wufei tapping his foot impatiently. Duo looked them over. Despite the glare Heero shot random by- passers, he looked pretty cool, leaning against the wall like that. He looked so. . . normal. Like any kid their age. Except that he wasn't any kid their age, he was Heero.  
  
Duo and Quatre walked up to the other two. Duo was about to make a funny remark on the fact that they were both standing in the same position when Heero spoke first. "You're late."  
  
"We are?" Duo made it sound as if that was just the stupidest thing Heero could possible say, but his roommate simply ignored that.  
  
"Yes, you should have been here half an hour ago, Maxwell. It's three o'clock."  
  
"It is?" Duo questioned. "Well, how were we supposed to know? We don't have watches."  
  
Wufei was about to comment when Quatre decided he wanted to avoid trouble in a public place as this. "I'm hungry, let's find a place to eat."  
  
"Yes, let's do that." Wufei said, still glaring at Duo. "The sooner we're done with that, the faster we can get to the rest of the presents."  
  
They headed for a self-service restaurant where they all grabbed trey. They walked over to the drinks first. Heero got a sprite and Quatre a diet coke while Wufei and Duo took a normal cola. Then they went over to the food. Duo glanced at what the others took. Heero had a sausage-roll, Quatre a donut and Wufei decided he wasn't hungry.  
  
"I'll take a salad sandwich." Duo muttered to himself  
  
"Going healthy, Maxwell?" Duo grunted at the smaller boy's comment but said nothing and walked over to where the salad sandwiches were, only to see that there were two left. On his way there he saw how somebody grabbed one of them. Now there was only one left. He hurried forward and grabbed the thing, not even bothering taking a plate first. But just as he did so, someone else reached for it as well.  
  
"Hey! That's mine, I saw it first!"  
  
Duo blinked as he looked up, recognising the voice. "Hilde?"  
  
The girl holding the sandwich now looked up as well. She looked at him for a moment before she recognised him. "Duo?"  
  
Duo grinned. "We really have to stop meeting like this... Share?"  
  
"Sure." The girl shrugged. "Why not."  
  
Duo and Hilde walked to the counter where the other three were already waiting in the line to pay for their stuff. It was hard to find an empty table because the restaurant was very crowded. When they finally found one they put their trays down. Duo then introduced Hilde as they took their seats.  
  
"So, what'chya doin' here, Hilde, Shopping for Christmas as well?" Duo asked as he cut the sandwich in half.  
  
"No, I had to order some fireworks for my dad. He owns a café in the city and expects a lot of visitors on old-years-eve so he sent me to order some extra stuff."  
  
"Your dad owns a café? Sounds cool. What's it called? Maybe we'll come by sometime."  
  
"It's called 'The Miller'."  
  
"Your dad owns the Miller?" This time it was Wufei who spoke.  
  
"Yeah, ever been there?" Hilde asked him. "Lot's of people our age go there every week.  
  
"I've been there a few times. It's a good place, not too expensive either."  
  
"That's because we charge entree. Most clubs don't do that. Hey, you know what? I got a few tickets left to give out for old years eve, wanna have them? They'll get you in for free."  
  
"You can give them away for free?" Duo asked her.  
  
"Sure, as long as you're fifteen or older and promise to come." She smiled at the boys and the four of them nodded.  
  
"Sure we'll come!" Duo said cheerfully. Then he hesitated a moment and turned to the boys. "Uhm. . . We ARE allowed to go out that night, right?"  
  
"Yes, Maxwell, in our grade we are allowed out until 3.00 that night."  
  
"Maxwell?" Hilde turned to Duo. "You live in the orphanage or something or is that just coincidence?"  
  
Duo did his best to keep his grin up but his heart sank to the ground. He never liked telling people where he lived out of fear for how they would reacto on it. And he happened to like this girl he had only met twice now. How would she react to him being an orphan? Surely that would mean she'd push him away or something. But there was no point in lying now. Not in front of the others who were already answering affirmative.  
  
So instead he started playing the act as he had done so many times before.  
  
He got up from his chair and offered Hilde his hand. When she took it he shook it, never loosing his grin. "The one and only Duo Maxwell From Maxwell Orphanage. That's me!" He made a semi-respective bow. "Nice to meet you, mademoiselle."  
  
Hilde couldn't help but giggle. "You're crazy, you know that?"  
  
At that Wufei muttered something that very much sounded like 'try living with him' but decided not to react any further on it.  
  
Duo sat down again, never loosing his grin. He glanced around until his eyes met with Heero's. The boy was eyeing him suspiciously but he didn't say a word. But Duo decided not to ask either. Heero had been acting weird all day. He hadn't said a word since the 'you're late' part and he'd been scowling all the time.  
  
He wondered what was wrong with his roommate. Of course, the boy never was one of many words, but to be this silent and down was even for him unnatural. He made it a point to ask him, but not now for it would only get him more angry. He wasn't in the mood to deal with an angry Heero right now. He just hoped he'd get the chance to talk to the elder boy soon enough. Maybe, if he were lucky, he would get to do the next round of Christmas shopping with him. He decided to try his luck immediately.  
  
"So, what will be the next pairings?"  
  
Quatre shrugged. Duo knew the smaller two of the group still weren't the best of friends. Quatre was probably hoping to get to go with Heero as well. This time, however, Heero spoke up, making his own decision.  
  
"Wufei still needs something for Quatre."  
  
That meant he'd have to team up with Duo. The braided one nodded, hiding his disappointment. "That's settled then. Heero and Quatre go together and Wufei's coming with me. Wanna join, Hilde?"  
  
But the girl shook her head. "Not today, I got errands to run for my dad. Speaking of that," she glanced at her watch, "I'd better get going now." She got up from her chair and smiled to the others. "Bye Duo, everybody, nice to meet you."  
  
They all, except for Heero who just nodded in acknowledgement, said their goodbyes to her. When she was out of sight, Wufei glanced around and, noticing that everybody was done eating, he got up, announcing their departure as well.  
  
". . . After all," he concluded his announcement, "we got half an hour behind schedule thanks to a certain braided idiot."  
  
Duo, semi-offended, pouted at him. "Hey, that's no fair! I'm not the only one without a watch, you know!" They gathered their plates and forks and knives together.  
  
Wufei rolled his eyes, though no one saw it since they were walking in a line, zigzagging between the other customers, trying to reach the counter to deliver their treys.. "At least Heero and I both got a watch so this time you can be back in time."  
  
When the four had set a new time for them to meet again they split up. Duo winked ate Quatre and Heero who were going in the opposite direction of Wufei and him.  
  
"Be back in time!" He waved happily. Quatre smiled at him but Heero ignored him completely.  
  
"Geez, what's up with HIM?" Duo asked now that Wufei and him were finally alone... for as far they could be in a mall full of people.  
  
"He doesn't like Christmas." The shorter one answered.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
Wufei shrugged. "I don't know. Better stay away from him as much as possible during Christmas. Last year they practically had to drag him out of his room when they were opening gifts."  
  
"That's the opposite of Quatre." Duo said as he remembered the smile on the boy's face that had been there ever since they'd left the playroom that morning. "He seems to love it."  
  
"That's just because he knows that this year he's going to get presents from someone other than the leaders."  
  
Duo blinked. "What do you mean?"  
  
Wufei shrugged. "Last year he bought a few presents for some kids, but no- one bought him a present back."  
  
"Not even Heero?" Duo asked. "I thought they were friends?"  
  
"Heero never bought anything for anybody. This is the first time he does. Took me two weeks to get him this far so you'd better be grateful."  
  
Duo sighed.  
  
'Poor Quatre, having to deal with Heero alone now.'  
  
"So," the braided youth decided to change subject. "What are you buying Quatre?"  
  
"Dunno yet." Wufei shrugged again. "I'll see."  
  
"Lemme guess, you were hoping I could give you some ideas, right?"  
  
"Do I look like I want your advice?" The smaller male shot back.  
  
Duo grinned and put his hands up in defence. "Aww, don't worry, I won't tell anyone. But because you ask so nicely I'll help you out."  
  
"Maxwell. . ." Wufei was nearly growling now.  
  
"Self defence." Duo said quickly, remembering the admiration in Quatre's voice as he'd said he would love to be able to do martial arts.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Self defence." Duo repeated. "You know, like martial arts and stuff."  
  
"Right. And how in Nataku's world am I going to pay for a tutor, Maxwell?"  
  
"I never said you would have to get a tutor."  
  
"You mean. . ."  
  
Duo grinned. It was the perfect idea. That way those two would actually spend time together without having Heero and Duo there as well.  
  
The rest of the afternoon went fast as both boys already knew what to buy for the others. Duo decided to give Quatre a new video game, after all, he loved playing with Duo's. This game had more than just Tetris on it and Duo was sure it would keep the younger boy occupied for a while.  
  
Wufei obviously had the same idea as Duo when it came to keeping Heero away from the computer. He bought his best friend a basketball. Though the winter had just come so Heero wouldn't be able to play basketball outside for a while, he could always use it in the gym or something.  
  
They didn't have to wait long for Heero and Quatre to arrive back on their meeting spot, but one look at the pair was enough to know that something had happened. Quatre wasn't at all like his cheerful self, in fact, he looked somewhere between sad and agitated and Heero's face was like a thunderstorm. People noticing this even did their best to stay out of the angry teenager's way.  
  
But as they came closer Duo saw Heero had a soon-to-be black eye and several cuts in his blue jacket. Luckily Duo didn't spot any blood, though. Still it was strange. Had Heero been in a fight?  
  
Wufei, leaning against the wall as he had been when waiting for Duo and Quatre earlier that day, met Heero's glare, but chose to ignore it as the boy was glaring at anyone who dared to meet his eyes. He looked his best friend over before he decided to state the obvious. "Yuy, you look like shit."  
  
Duo narrowed his eyes as he scanned both boys for any more bruises. To his relieve Quatre seemed all right, but he was obviously worried about Heero. "What happened?" Duo asked asked.  
  
Quatre opened his mouth to speak, but Heero beat him to it. "Nothing." He said, his tone leaving no room for further questions. After hearing this as well, Quatre closed his mouth again as he chose to remain silent.  
  
Duo decided not to take his chances by either the already agitated blonde or the ever-scowling-or-else-glaring Heero. He'd do that later. Wufei was obviously thinking the same as he started for the exit. The rain had stopped and the boys decided to walk the rest of the way back to the orphanage. They still had 45 minutes left till dinnertime so it left them time enough to walk back in silence, not even Duo tried to speak up as he was trying to find a way to get his elder roommate to talk later tonight. Maybe he'd better ask Quatre after all.  
  
~ T.B.C. ~  
  
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No review, no continue 


	6. Chapter Five: Miracles and Christmas

Holydays are over! Boo! No fair! We want more!  
  
Oh well, the good thing is that I can go back to updating again. Took me awhile, didn't it? I want to apologise for my laziness as I know many of you have been waiting for this next chapter. But not to worry, we're not even halfway trough this story that is over sixty pages. This is only page 26 so there's more to come for you all. Just keep reviewing, because I can tell you have been lacking there.  
  
Chapter Five: Miracles and Christmas  
  
------  
  
Heero kept his bad mood for the rest of the day. His eye was really turning black now and his expression remained clouded with thunderclouds and he tended to avoid all social contacts. Anyone who would even look do so much as glance in his direction could expect a real death-glare to be sent his way. Duo couldn't help but keep wondering what had happened back at the mall so later that evening he decided to check how Quatre was doing.  
  
However, he didn't get a chance to speak because he had yet to enter the room when Quatre started overloading him with a mountain of fast, excited words.  
  
"Duo, the strangest thing happened to me half an hour ago!" The blonde said as he pulled Duo inside and closed the door. "I's playin' on m'violin, just an old, sad song when sud'ly I heard som'ne playin' a flute an' whoever it was, he played along with me! An' normally I wou'nt be so su'prised 'cept from 'e fact that I don't know 'nyone playin' a flute in the 'ole orphanage, but..."  
  
Duo put his hands up as he tried to calm his blonde friend down in attempt to follow the story. "Woah, woah, calm down buddy, I'm loosin'ya!"  
  
Quatre paused a moment to think and then laughed shyly. "Oh, heh, sorry."  
  
"'S ok. Just try again, slower this time."  
  
"Well," the blonde started over again, a little slower. "As I said I was playing an old song on my violin when someone on a flute joined me. But I don't know anyone in the entire orphanage playing a flute and the song I played isn't that well known, yet this one managed to play it flawlessly."  
  
Quatre was obviously very excited about this. Duo didn't see the big importance of the whole scene, though. "So, who was playing along?"  
  
"Well, when I was done I opened the door to my room to see who was playing. He had to have been standing there because I could hear it so clear. But when I opened the door and looked there was no one there! And I really want to know who was playing the flute because it sounded so beautiful." He added dreaming.  
  
"Then try playing the violin again." Duo advised the other boy, completely forgotten about Heero now. "Maybe he'll come back."  
  
Quatre smiled. "Yeah, maybe. But not now. I can't play like that right now and somehow I know he won't join me if I play something silly." He was silent for a moment as he was reminded of another problem. "But even so, how am I going to catch him next time? What if he runs away again the moment the song is over?"  
  
"Simple!" Duo reacted. "Open the door before the song is over, or never really close it so you can use your foot to open it."  
  
"Yeah, that'd be great! Thanks Duo!" The youth smiled gratefully. "So, what did you come over to my place for?"  
  
Duo thought of Heero again, as he was the reason he came here for, but for some reason he didn't speak up right away. He watched Quatre smile and wondered again what it would be like to see Heero smile just once. Oh, what he wouldn't give for that. It was sure to be a perfect smile. How he sometimes couldn't sleep at night and he lay awake, watching Heero in his sleep. And if the elder boy had a scowl on his lips he was always tempted to just walk over and touch him some way or another and his scowl would go away and he would look so peaceful, soft. Or at least not as hard and unhappy as usual. Heero deserved some happiness in his life.  
  
But never did he really have the nerve to climb out of his own bed and walk over to his roommate to actually have that scowl disappearing. What if he woke up before Duo was back in his bed? Or even when he was still touching him? What if he saw the look in Duo's eyes which were sure to betray his intentions?  
  
"Never mind." The braided one mumbled and then he got up again and ready to return to his own room where, no doubt, Heero would be behind his laptop, scowling as he had been when Duo left the area.  
  
"You sure?" the blonde asked. "You looked as if you wanted to ask me something when you came in."  
  
"Yeah, I forgot." Duo lied as he opened the door to the corridor. "See ya later, Q-man!"  
  
"Bye." Quatre smiled, most likely thinking of whoever it could have been played that beautiful song along with him.  
  
Duo walked out of Quatre's room, but didn't return to his room. For some reason he suddenly felt like being alone right now and even the presence of Heero was too much. Though he knew the boy wouldn't speak up, just him sitting there, typing things on his laptop, clicking with the mouse would be enough to irritate Duo right now. No, he had to find a place where he could be alone. And that might become a problem when living in an orphanage.  
  
Right now he wished he had a room all to himself like Quatre and Wufei had. Normally he wouldn't like being alone, it only reminded him of the time before he met Solo and the things that happened in the other orphanage, but right now he didn't care.  
  
But where to go? In the main room the TV was probably on and no doubt some kids were using the playroom as well. Duo sighed. He might as well stay just here in the deserted corridor for a moment.  
  
The braided boy glanced outside. It was raining again just as it had done earlier that day when they took the bus. Large drops of water splashed against the many windows of the old building as if trying to break trough it. From where he was standing he could see the playground with the basketball field that belonged to the orphanage, lit by the few streetlights and surrounded by large, strong gates as if to imprison anyone inside, stubbornly refusing to let them out.  
  
It was dark outside, it had been for quite a while now since it was a cold winter day, and if it weren't for the streetlights Duo wouldn't have been able to see the gates. He liked the winters even though he disliked the cold. It meant that darkness came early. Duo felt at ease in the darkness, almost as if he belonged there. Though he didn't know anything about who his parents were supposed to have been, he was certain that he was born at night. He imagined how blackness surrounded him like family as he crawled out of that safe, warm world into the darkness of the night, or at least somewhere in the shadows of a dark alley or something, hiding from the bright light of the day.  
  
There was another reason he liked winters so much. People went to bed even before midnight to rid themselves of the long, dark nights and they always had lots of food to make sure they'd be alright during the darkest months of the year. For Duo, and so many others, that meant there was enough food to steal and enough time to steal it. He remembered how Solo always knew to pick the right places. He'd make sure that they'd have enough to last for days in the winter.  
  
Duo sighed, missing the boy who had always been there for him at times like these when for some reason or another he felt alone.  
  
Then his thoughts shifted to Heero who, in his own way, also never failed to give Duo the safe and secured feeling whenever he was around. But so unlike Solo, this boy had never held him, never comforted him, never needed to comfort him for he had never seen Duo cry. Duo didn't want to cry in front of Heero, or in front of anyone but Solo and since he'd left the other orphanage, no one but him had ever seen the braided boy cry, for he had sworn that no one but him would ever witness that.  
  
He was Duo, Duo Maxwell now, he would never cry in front of Heero. Not only was he afraid of showing his weaknesses, afraid of being disliked by Heero even more than he sometimes felt the elder boy already did, but also he didn't want Heero to have to see anyone getting hurt. He wanted only happiness for his roommate. He wanted to take away whatever caused that scowl to be on his face all the time, for he wanted to see his roommate happy. And he wanted to be happy himself as well.  
  
Duo's stomach started acting weird again, the same as it had felt that night Solo came by to say goodbye. Only this time he didn't dismiss it by the time of the night, for he'd had this feeling more often. And every time he had thought of Heero. Could it. . . Could it be that he wanted him as more than just a friend? If so, then what should he do? Stay silent, keep out of his way? or should he talk to him, tell him how he felt?  
  
No. There was nothing more going on. And even if there was, never, not ever, could he let Heero, or anybody else, know how he felt about him. He was his roommate, a friend, nothing more than that. And to Heero the braided youth was nothing more than an annoying roommate who borrowed his blankets because he couldn't even stand a little bit of cold. No. Heero was never to find out. It would destroy their friendship and it wouldn't make Duo more popular either. Besides, what if he was wrong and he didn't really want Heero as much as he thought he did?  
  
But then again, if he didn't, then why had he been so disappointed not to get paired up with Heero back at the mall?  
  
Well, whatever it was, he would sort it out later. The rain had slowed down now and Duo's feet were starting to ache from standing all this time. It was time to return to the world of the living, or in Heero's case, the living dead, and put on his happy grin again, pretending to be trying to annoy Heero, not as if that was so hard.  
  
#*~*#  
  
Wednesday passed by rather quickly and before Duo knew it he was sitting with the other guys having a real Christmas dinner. One glance at the huge pile of food was enough to convince Duo he was dead and had gone to heaven, or at least he was dreaming. Surely they only had this much food in heaven! Heck, he wouldn't even be surprised if he wasn't supposed to touch any of it! How in the world was all that food going to be eaten by just one orphanage?  
  
The entire dinner room had been decorated in warm colours, mainly red and green and many different sorts of food were placed in front of the kids, from turkey to vegetarian hamburgers, from salad to potatoes to fish, and LOTS of it too!  
  
Suddenly Duo began to worry about eating this. There were so many kids who needed this more than he did. And they were out there now, relying on the people's Christmas spirit to give them some money for food or clothes. When Christmas came close, people started acting generous all of a sudden as if only with Christmas the poorer ones needed to eat. But as soon as Christmas was over and the people realised they'd plundered their entire accounts for the holydays they stopped giving anything to anybody and only glared at the begging youth that hung around the malls. As if they only needed to be generous for those few days they called Christmas.  
  
Solo and Duo had hardly ever begged for food, they usually just stole it. Whether it was a matter of pride or simply because it was a lot easier and often brought in more, Duo couldn't tell. Probably a mixture of both.  
  
The ex-thief just got a bit of salad and was picking his food, not joining in any of the cheerful conversations when suddenly he noticed Heero wasn't there. They sat near the door so it would've been easy for him to get up and slip out while the rest of the kids were still being impressed by the food. He was just about to see if Heero was seated elsewhere when Quatre asked him why he wasn't eating. He made up a quick excuse as he saw Wufei giving him a meaningful look. Heero was trying to skip it again this year!  
  
Duo did the first thing that came to his mind, he quickly ate the salad on his plate and got up to see what was wrong with Heero. Quatre called his name as he got up, but he just glanced his way for a moment, an apologetic expression on his face, before he continued out of the room. Quatre was about to say something else when Wufei butted in, telling Quatre to leave him be.  
  
However, Duo didn't make it farther then the dining room door where he was stopped by a teacher saying dinner wasn't over yet. Duo quickly explained that Heero wasn't there and finally, after he had thoroughly searched the whole room with his eyes, the teacher gave him permission to go and fetch him.  
  
Duo suspected Heero to be in their room. So that was the first place he was going to look. He walked up to their room, but halted in front of it, listening to the door. Not a sound. He quietly opened the door and peeked inside. Heero was sitting on his bed with his back turned to the door. He seemed to be focussing on something in his hands and he didn't appear to have heard the sound of the door opening.  
  
Duo quietly entered and closed the door. He paused a moment, not sure what to do. Heero always noticed everything. Now it seemed as if he were in some kind of trance, completely lost in thought. This was highly unusual. Duo had never seen him like that. And what was it his eyes were focussed on? Duo couldn't see. Finally he decided to get the boy's attention first  
  
"...Heero?" He said softly.  
  
Heero didn't seem to react to his name at all. Had he even heard him? But just as Duo was about to speak again, the other boy slightly tilted his head. He turned his head just enough to see Duo's full form.  
  
Duo frowned at the expression on the boy's face, for it wasn't his usual scowl he gave him. Sorrow? Heero looked sorrowful? But the expression didn't last long. Heero moved his mouth a little but Duo couldn't make out what it was he was whispering. The next moment he turned around completely and got off the bed. His sorrowful expression disappeared completely to make place for a rage so intense Duo felt insecure for a moment. He was used to his roommate's death glares but this anger seemed to come from so much deeper than that. And then his eyes, they seemed to be shooting fire.  
  
"I'll kill you." Heero said, keeping his voice calm as usual. "Say goodbye, father." The last word was spoken with utter disgust.  
  
Father? But before Duo had time to think about it Heero flung himself unto him, causing Duo to fall backwards. The boy on top reached for Duo's throat who desperately tried to kick the angry boy off of him. But Heero was the stronger one here and he had the advantage of being on top. He managed to grab Duo's throat and started strangling him. Duo struggled on as he grabbed the elder boy's wrists and tried to pull his roommate's hands back so he could breath again.  
  
"Heero. . . look at me! Argh! . . .It's me. . . Duo." He managed to say, but Heero wasn't listening.  
  
"Petty excuses!" the boy on top sneered back. "Always making things up when you hurt somebody! It was NEVER your fault what you did!"  
  
If he was able to Duo would've flinched at the anger and hate in the other boy's voice. What was going on here? Where did Heero get his anger? He had been tense lately, but this couldn't all have been just under the surface waiting to be released, could it? What was the elder boy talking of? What did he do?  
  
He managed to pull the strangling hands from his throat a little and inhaled as deep as he could before the hands were back in their place again.  
  
"You got the. . . wrong guy, I, Ugh. . . I didn't do anything!"  
  
The elder boy tightened his grip cutting off Duo's air completely now. He squeezed his eyes shut as he heard the hate and disgust in the other boy's voice.  
  
"No! You're drunk! You're always drunk! And now she's dead because you killed her!" Heero was almost screaming now and Duo could feel the other boy's hot breath on his own stone cold face. He just hoped someone would come in soon, but he was certain that downstairs no one was listening as the music was too loud and they were on the fourth floor. Crying out for help was probably useless.  
  
He had given up turning and tossing by now, solely concentrating on the hands, for moving would only cost too much energy and he felt as if his life was slowly dripping out of his body. He opened his eyes and saw the other boy was looking at his throat as if that were his sole enemy. The hate and disgust were evident in the blue orbs that were now bringing fear to his own.  
  
"Heero. . . I didn't kill. . . anyone!"  
  
"Don't lie to me, you bastard, you killed her! I saw it with my own eyes! You threw her against the Christmas tree and then you hit her on her head with the lamp and she was dead! You thought I wasn't watching, but I was standing at the top of the stairs. You killed her, you deserve to die!"  
  
Heero was now so lost in his words that he used his hands to emphasise his words, giving Duo some in-between chances to suck in a little oxygen, but it wouldn't do much good if this continued this way. Duo felt growing weaker by the second, his hands were slowly releasing his attacker's wrists as he couldn't find the strength to keep them there anymore. Soon he'd pass out and then the results wouldn't be pretty. Just one more chance left now. If only he could get Heero to recognise him!  
  
"No. . . Look at me, Heero. . . Ugh Damnit. . ." he managed the best he could. "It's me. . . Duo!" Finally the elder boy looked up, straight into Duo's half-squeezed eyes. Recognition and confusion shot trough the icy blue orbs and slowly his hands lost their grip.  
  
"D. . . Duo?"  
  
~ T.B.C. ~  
  
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	7. Chapter Six: Mysterious pasts

Chapter Six: Mysterious pasts  
  
------  
  
Heero backed up now, off of Duo and against his own bed. Duo, now heavily panting, forced himself so sit up against the wall as well so his body could recover quickly. He used his left hand to support his bodyweight as his right reached for his sore throat. When he looked up he saw Heero was panting as well but he was eying him with horror.  
  
Not able to feel anything but pain for a moment, he took a deep breath and pushed himself upwards, taking a moment to steady himself and make sure he wouldn't fall, he carefully walked out of the room to the nearest bathroom. There he leaned on the sink and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked terrible -hair stuck out of his braid everywhere, his eyes were big and his throat was red from Heero's hands- but he really didn't care right now. He threw some water into his face and made sure at least that was all right before he went back to that room.  
  
Something was seriously wrong with Heero. What was going on? Why hadn't he been able to tell it had been Duo he was strangling? And whom had he been talking about? He'd said he'd killed his mother. . . Was this about how he'd become an orphan?"  
  
When he entered their room again, he saw Heero sitting in the exact same spot he was when he left him. Heero looked up at the sound of the door opening, his eyes first showing confusion, making Duo think he was loosing it again. But then his expression settled for his usual scowl, only a sad one this time. This change was so little that he doubted any other person would see it, but he knew Heero better than any other person and he felt a sting of pain piercing trough his soul as he watched the forlorn boy.  
  
Softly, Heero spoke up. "Hit me."  
  
"What?" Duo blinked, not sure he had heard it right.  
  
"Hit me..." Heero said again, though a bit more determined now. "Hurt me, kill me. Do whatever you need to make me get what I deserve."  
  
'What is this, a joke?'  
  
But if it were one it wasn't funny at all. Why was Heero acting so strange? Why would Duo want to hurt him? "I'm not going to hit you." He said, trying to assure the other boy.  
  
But Heero didn't seem to have heard his words as he continued with the same monotonous voice. "I deserve to be locked up for life, just like him!"  
  
Now he was getting somewhere. Determined to find out what was bothering Heero enough to be satisfied in death, he kneeled down beside the boy. But he didn't touch him, afraid of the reaction he would get then. So instead he cautiously asked: "Like whom?"  
  
Again, Heero ignored him. "Kill me. Make me pay."  
  
"I'm not going to kill anyone." This time Duo's voice spoke harder than he had intended to but again, Heero Yuy didn't seem to listen as he rambled on.  
  
"They should've locked me up along with him. His blood is flowing trough my veins, I always knew sooner or later it would retaliate, it had to. . ."  
  
"Stop it Heero!" Duo yelled, but still he didn't touch the oblivious boy.  
  
"I don't deserve to be here, in this home. I don't deserve to eat from the government's money, I don't deserve presents or Christmas meals and I don't deserve you as a roommate."  
  
"You're scaring me now, Heero." Duo gritted his teeth. Right now he felt like slapping the boy some sense into is head, but he didn't try that for he did feel scared of him, talking about dying and not deserving anything. Duo always knew Heero wasn't one for socialising with people and he also saw how he tended to avoid human contact at all times, but he figured that was just Heero. He never guessed it would go this deep into his past that made him the way he was.  
  
What made him the way he was anyway?  
  
"Why? Why haven't you done anything yet?" Heero sounded confused. "Why am I still sitting here?"  
  
"Damn you, Stop this, Heero!" Duo finally grabbed the boy's shoulders and shook him until his eyes finally tried to focus on his. "I wouldn't hurt my friends no matter what they did!"  
  
This seemed to gather the boy's attention. ". . . Friend?" He hesitated. "We. . . We're friends? But how. . . when. . .?"  
  
"Heero, you're the best friend I have around here." He tried to assure his roommate.  
  
"What about Quatre then?"  
  
Duo smiled now, a sad smile nonetheless. "Sure, Quatre is a nice kid and all and I like spending time with him, but no secret would be safe with him. He's too innocent to keep it to himself. I can tell you anything and I know you care and I also know you won't tell anyone if I ask you not to..." Then he remembered the love letter event not too long ago. "Well, save for the pranks I play on Wufei, perhaps"  
  
"You don't tell me secrets."  
  
"You know about Solo and you never told a soul."  
  
Still, Heero didn't seem to be convinced yet. Why wouldn't he believe Duo really wanted his friendship? Did he think that low of himself?  
  
"Remember the blankets you gave me every night and how I used to return them to you in the morning before you told me to keep them? Quatre wouldn't even notice me being cold in the first place."  
  
"So I was warm." The elder boy stated, but now it was Duo's turn to ignore that.  
  
"And then the way you stuck up for Quatre when I accused him after he brought me some food. Only a true friend would do something like that. You asked me when I started seeing you as a friend. I can't tell you when exactly that happened because I honestly don't know, but I can tell you this: That next morning when we both had to paint that room and Quatre came in to apologise to you, that was when I started thinking of you differently and I started respecting you."  
  
Heero blinked after hearing all this, but Duo wasn't finished yet. There was one more thing to add.  
  
"And never, not ever did I have any regrets of becoming your friend." Or fall in love with you, he added silently, almost scaring himself with that thought. But he didn't have tome to think and worry about that now, for his friend, the one who needed him most right now, was trying to get up and leave the room.  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"I. . . I have to go. . . Get out of here. . . Think. . . I don't know. . . Out."  
  
But Duo refused to let him go out like that. "Oh no you're not." He jumped up and blocked Heero's way out, standing with his fist on his hips, looking strict, but not hard. "You're going to sit on that bed and tell me what happened, how you ended up in an orphanage."  
  
Heero tried to glare, but it looked rather pitiful. So instead he did as Duo told him and sat down on the bed. Not sure whether to sit down next to him or opposite of him on his own bed, Duo chose to stand.  
  
"Now start talking."  
  
Heero seemed to hesitate at first, but finally, as if speaking to no one at all, he sat there on his bed, letting everything out for perhaps the first time in his life. Duo had locked the door, not to keep Heero inside, but to make sure they would stay alone, for this might very well be the only chance to hear what Heero had to say, the only chance to figure out what he had to do to help his normally so strong roommate.  
  
His story seemed a bit blurry in the beginning, but Duo could fill in the blank pages for himself. It came down to it that Heero's father had lost his job and had been drunk every night since, coming home, smelling like alcohol, hurting everything and everyone that stood in his way. Heero had had a dog but his father had killed him in one of his drunken evenings. That was when Heero had started defending his mother, pleading with her to leave him and to walk off, just the two of them. But Christmas was coming and his mother didn't want to spend it alone. Besides, he always said he was sorry afterwards.  
  
Christmas eve came indeed but Heero's father stayed away. Heero wanted to wait for him, making sure his mother would be okay, but finally, at twelve o'clock, he was sent to bed where he lay awake, worrying until he heard his father come home. Then he heard yelling and he snuck to the stairs to see what was happening. The moment he looked down he saw how his father hit his mother so she fell against the big Christmas tree and then he smacked her on the head with a lamp, calling her 'nothing but a dirty whore'.  
  
Heero had watched his father kneeling down besides her, saying he was sorry, but it had been too late that time. She was dead. And Heero didn't do a thing about it.  
  
From the way he was telling it, Duo realised Heero blamed himself for his mother's death. And tonight it was yet another Christmas Eve. Duo suspected that had been the reason behind Heero's strange behaviour the past week., his bursts of anger for no reason at all, his tossing and turning in the night that even woke Duo up, his attack on Duo just minutes before. And though Heero wasn't crying Duo settled down near the lost boy to hold him and comfort him, glad when he found that Heero let him.  
  
That was when Duo heard something he would always keep wondering if he had really heard it or if his mind was just playing tricks on him, for with pain clearly in his voice, the boy he was holding now seemed to whisper four words, Duo never thought he would hear.  
  
"I don't deserve you. . ."  
  
#*~*#  
  
An eternity seemed to pass and Duo never noticed he was dozing off as he held the fragile Heero in his arms. Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps walking up the stairs. He glanced at the clock. 20.15? He'd been here almost an hour now and had been holding Heero for at least half that time. Quickly but gently he let go of Heero and lay him down on the bed. Guessing that whoever was coming was coming for them, he opened the locked door before they could knock. And he had been right, Sally stood there with Quatre and Wufei right behind her.  
  
Sally blinked as she saw Duo's still pale face. She glanced at his braid as well but didn't comment on it. Wufei and Quatre, equally concerned, eyed Duo warily, but neither of them spoke up.  
  
"Are you two alright in here?" The woman asked Duo, trying to glance into the room. But Duo effectively blocked the sight of Heero from her without being too obvious about it.  
  
"Yeah, we're fine." Duo tried to force a smile on his face but he wasn't so sure he succeeded.  
  
"Are you coming down? You two missed all of diner."  
  
"Heero's just asleep right now and I'd rather not wake him up." Duo answered. "He was really tired."  
  
Sally seemed to be concerned about this. After all, it was only a quarter past 8 and the boys were used to going to bed later than that. "He's not sick is he?"  
  
"No, he-he's okay, just tired I guess."  
  
"Okay then." Sally sighed. "But you missed dinner so you must be hungry. I'll have someone bring something up for you two just in case he wakes up."  
  
Duo nodded. He was indeed pretty hungry. "Thanks."  
  
"And Duo?" Sally smiled. "I'd appreciate it if you two tried to come downstairs somewhere later this evening. It IS Christmas Eve and you shouldn't celebrate that alone."  
  
"I'll try." Duo promised and with a last reassuring smile to Quatre and Wufei he closed the door again.  
  
He glanced back at Heero's bed only to see him sitting up. He'd drawn his knees to his chest and hugged them as his eyes were cast downwards.  
  
"Sorry I ruined your Christmas meal." The smaller one said in a low voice.  
  
"'s Okay." Duo answered. He hadn't even thought about that being ruined yet. "There will be a next time."  
  
An uncomfortable silence fell between the two of them as neither really knew what to do. Duo didn't know if he should sit with Heero again or just go over to his own bed, but he knew something inside of him would be more satisfied sitting next to Heero, feeling his body warmth and taking in his scent. But he didn't get enough time to decide for Heero decided to break the silence.  
  
"Thanks." The boy murmured.  
  
"No problem." Duo decided to ignore his brains as he felt the need to comfort his roommate. He walked over to the bed and again he sat down next to Heero. "Hey Heero, listen. . ." He thought a moment to find the right words. "What happened earlier today. . . You know, you telling me all that stuff. . ." This was so not going good. But Heero was watching him now, waiting for him to speak. ". . .I-I'm glad you told me."  
  
Heero's eyes widened at that. Obviously he hadn't expected that from his ever-joking roommate. "Why?"  
  
"Because. . . Oh, I just wanna be your friend and I want you to know you can tell that kind of stuff. When you. . . When you attacked me I didn't care about myself. All I thought of was you. Heero, I don't want to see you get hurt so please, TALK to me."  
  
"I. . .I cant." The other boy sighed.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because, it's a weakness." If he hadn't heard it himself, Duo would've never believed Heero had said that.  
  
"You know, nobody can be strong unless they are unafraid to show their weaknesses. People who feel insecure start acting strong all the time to hide their weaknesses but it is takes really strong people to show them."  
  
"Duo, if you're telling me to act weak in front of everybody, you can forget it because I won't. . ."  
  
"No, that's not what I mean. Not in front of everybody, just those you really care about. And I dunno how much you care about me, but I care enough about you to. . . you know, be okay with it." And he thought he'd been bad before. He closed his eyes to hide his shame, only to hear Heero snicker.  
  
"Now who's hiding?"  
  
Duo opened his eyes as he realised what he was doing. "Well, I never said I was perfect." He smiled. "Just know that I won't tell anyone."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"No problem." At that moment a knock on the door came and at the same time Duo's stomach rumbled. He jumped up as he went to open the door. "God, I hope that's the food!"  
  
Heero chuckled at his roommates reaction. "You'll never change, will you?"  
  
~ T.B.C. ~  
  
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Comments are welcome. No review, no continue 


	8. Chapter Seven: Christmas

**_A/N:_** Sorry, late update. Got enough excuses, but the truth is that I kinda lost my interest in this story... Good thing for my readers that it's already almost finished and that basically all I have to do is read it over and write the last one or two chapters (chapter 12 and 13)... Anyway, I decided to update this for you now because if I wait any longer I will be in the middle of MY new life (a.k.a. college) with more excuses why Not to update... Yay, I graduated from 'high school' this year! Finally! 6 years is long enough! Not that this interests you but... Oh well, it's been over 6 months now and I'll be 18 soon so I hope I can finish this story without changing too much. So much has happened to me and my writings, hope the difference is only for the better in this story. Also, this chapter has a small experiment, I doubt you'll like it, but I really don't care much about how strange you might find it.

Anyway, on with the story:

Chapter seven: Christmas

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Heero never spoke another word about that Christmas night and Duo thought of it as better not to mention it. At least it seemed to suit Heero fine. However, that evening had not been for nothing, as their friendship now seemed stronger than before.

The next morning Heero and Duo joined the rest of the orphanage just before nine o'clock, for that was the time they would start unpacking their gifts. Duo was pretty excited about this, but one glance at the huge pile of presents was enough for his head to start aching. He realised he'd never done this before and he felt guilty for getting to do it now when there were enough other now like he once was.

He tried his best not to think about it as he sat down beside Heero, who had seated himself by Wufei and Quatre and not much later Saria and her friend joined them. She, too, looked insecure and cast Duo a confused glance, not knowing what to expect. She leaned closer to him so that their shoulders barely touched. Duo didn't mind. He was glad he wasn't the only one who had no idea of what was coming.

When everybody was seated, Sally got up and started counting the children to see if all were present. She shook her head once and counted again, then whispered something to one of the people next to her who whispered something back. Sally nodded and the other woman walked off. Then she bid for silence by throwing her hands in the air. The noise died down and then Sally spoke.

"We are still waiting for one more student, but while we wait I would like to start with welcoming all of you on this..."

Duo tuned out here as Sally started talking about Christmas and its means and stuff. One student was not here yet. Who could it be? By now, Duo knew almost all of the students in the orphanage, so he glanced around to see who was missing. He couldn't find anyone not being there, though. Maybe it was some new kid he didn't know?

Saria had taken his hand and was now squeezing it slightly. Like him, she just wanted to get this started already. Her roommate next to her seemed to be concentrating on Sally's speech. Duo squeezed back a little and gave her a reassuring smile. Finally the woman who had left the room returned and when Sally was done with her welcoming words, she whispered something to her again. Sally nodded and looked thoughtful for a moment before she spoke again. Without an explanation about the missing person she said the unpacking could start now and while several teachers in attendance here this morning started giving out the presents stocked up below the tree, she herself walked out of the main room.

Duo's first present he unpacked came from Quatre. The blonde had given him a library card so he had something to do in his free time. In return, he was really glad with the video game and forgot about his other presents as he tried it out immediately.

Very appropriate, Heero had gotten him an alarm clock. He was always complaining about Duo not being up in time so now he had an alarm to wake up to. Duo playfully groaned at the idea of being woken by the sound of an alarm. He was thinking of just not setting it, but knowing Heero, the short haired boy would probably set it for him.

When Heero got his set of cards from Duo he cast him a strange look. Duo just grinned at him and mouthed that he would explain later. Confused, Heero opened his next present, the basketball.

The best gift Duo got that day came from Wufei, who was already enjoying his books. He had gone a bit over the limit he was allowed to spend, though. He had bought Duo the CD he had broken in his anger only weeks after the braided one first came to the orphanage. The moment Wufei realized the youth had gotten his present, he started avoiding him so Duo decided not to mention it right now. He wasn't even sure if the others knew the reason of that big fight he'd had with Wufei. Anyway, he'd be sure to thank him later. He'd be sure to thank all of them.

Not much later all the presents were unpacked and the kids were busy thanking each other for the gifts. Saria was just hugging Duo for the little bear when suddenly Sally came in with an envelope in her hand. She cleared her throat and smiled as she saw she had gotten the attention of most kids.

"I found this one present." She announced, holding up the envelope. "It says 'Duo'." Duo blinked. Another present? But he'd already gotten his presents from his friends and from Saria. Who else would buy him a present? He wasn't popular or anything. The envelope made its way towards Duo and he glanced at it. It indeed read his name, but he didn't recognise the handwriting. There was no 'sent by' on it either. He opened the envelope and revealed a card.

'_To Duo Maxwell  
Hereby I would like to announce that at noon today –December 25th – a limo will be awaiting you to escort you and one other person to Miss Catherine's Orphanage For Children Below 12, where I believe some friends of yours are resided._  
_Merry Christmas from Santa Claus'_

Duo blinked. _'Yeah right,'_ he thought, _'my mind is playing tricks on me.' _He read the card again, but the text remained the same. He felt a grip tighten on his hand. Saria was sitting next to him and had read the card as well. She looked up at him.

"Are you. . ." She started, "are you really gonna see the others?"

Duo smiled back. "Nope."

Saria's eyes grew wide. "But it says. . ."

"WE are going to see them!"

The young girl looked up at him with a hopeful expression. "You mean...?"

"Well, it says I can take someone with me. So, how about it, fancy going with me?"

She flung her arms around him and hugged him tight. "Oh Duo! Yeah, I wanna go! This is the best present anyone could give!"

Duo smiled as he hugged the girl back, but somewhere in the back of his mind a question started to burn its way trough.

'_Who arranged this present?'_

­------

The limo was the top of luxury. It was large enough for a dozen of people to fit in and had all the newest techniques. It had a DVD-player and several DVD's, flat-screen television, a laptop and with one push on a button you activated the device trough which you could talk with the neatly dressed and slightly snobby driver. The man seemed emotionless like Heero, yet way more polite and did whatever was asked of him. The car was great. Actually, the only thing missing was the wine which was switched with soda though there only were wineglasses to pour the liquid in.

The whole orphanage came to see the fancy limousine and they all gaped at its size, envying Duo and Saria because they actually got to ride in it. Duo felt awkward at the beginning and figured Saria was feeling the same, but he decided not to mention it. He had an example to set.

He couldn't believe it, they were going to see there friends, or that's what the card had said. Duo couldn't help but worry about the whole scene. It was all so sudden and so unbelievable. He felt like he could wake up any moment now to realize this wasn't real, that he was back in bed and Christmas had yet to begin. But soon enough they pulled up to a huge building that looked like a school or something and outside kids of different ages were running around, playing with toys Santa Claus had probably given them.

That was when Duo decided not to think about who sent him this present for the rest of the day. If the rest of his gang was truly here, he would be enjoying every moment he got to spend with them.

The four missing members of their 'street clan' were indeed in the orphanage. No words could describe how any of them felt, the six of them together again after so long. Of course, it wasn't the same without Solo here, but still, it felt good nevertheless to be reunited with the little ones again. All their troubles seemed to be forgotten as the kids showed them their new rooms and the toys Santa brought them.

But five o'clock kept drawing nearer and too soon the time came that Saria and Duo had to leave again. The four youngsters obviously didn't approve of this. The twin Mikal and Caria clamped themselves to Duo's legs, the other two hugged Saria tight and did not seem ready to let go either. The leaders of the orphanage, including the headmaster Miss Catherine herself did their best to get the children to let go of Saria and Duo, but it wasn't until Saria started to get tears in her eyes that Nique, -who with his ten years was the eldest of the four in this orphanage- let go of her and got the other three to follow his example. In about two years Nique would be twelve and then he would most likely join Duo and Saria in the Maxwell orphanage. But by that time Duo would be almost eighteen and he would have to leave very soon himself. As he walked towards the exit, he couldn't help but wondering, would they ever meet again?

Letting go of the four willingly youngsters was one of the hardest things Duo had ever done. Much rather would he have taken them and fled, but he forced himself to remember Solo's words about them getting a chance at a family now, a chance to have a life. He knew how important it was for all of them to get an education if they ever wanted to make it off the street, but his heart tried its best to ignore those facts. Damnit. He couldn't afford getting sentimental now. That wouldn't be good for anyone.

The four children held hands as they cried and waved goodbye while Saria got back into the limo. But just when Duo wanted to follow her, he felt someone tugging his shirt. He turned around and looked questioningly at Nique, who was watching him, trying to be a big boy and not cry, but failing miserably.

"Are we ever gonna see you again?" The young blonde asked Duo and he smiled in return.

"Of course we're gonna come back. Now that I know where you are I promise I'll do my best to stop by once in awhile. We're a group, remember?"

Duo kept smiling, though the tears were closer than he wanted to admit. Yet he refused to cry. The others didn't need to see him cry, for he was their example. If he was strong, they might be as well. On the way back to their orphanage however, he had to comfort a silently sobbing Saria. It was then when that question came back to him. Who had sent him this? And who knew where the children were or even whom to look for? Wasn't that all classified information? And who had the money to hire a car such as this?

­------

This is the place where I, as writer, will interfere. So far you have been following Duo's life and parts of the lives of those he hangs out with. However, now I would like to shift my point of view to another scenery that I would describe as rather. . . interesting, as an almost forgotten event is to be repeated again, only this time with slightly different developments in the end.

From the limousine driving Duo and Saria we go a few days ahead and into the room of a certain young blonde named Quatre R. Winner and there we see him play his violin.

Quatre's music wasn't sad today, but it wasn't happy either. He always played the music that suited his mood and right now he felt content. Christmas had been great. Heero had gotten him different flavors of tea, not a very personal present, but this was Heero they were speaking of. For that boy, this was a great present. And besides, Quatre DID love tea.

Duo's present was kinda obvious as well. Quatre was always borrowing his computer game; he was just addicted to Tetris and he was set on getting h the high-score. This new computer game was even better. It had 9 different games with different levels and most of them were as addictive as Tetris. He'd been up and playing till four in the morning first day he had it! He loved it!

But the most unexpected present had come from Wufei. He'd felt a little disappointed when Heero had said he hadn't bought a present for Quatre yet. Not because he had to go with Heero now, knowing somewhere deep down that Duo had wanted to go with Heero –yes, it was obvious to anybody in the orphanage except for the two themselves that they liked each other VERY much– but he felt a little left out knowing that the other boy didn't know what to do with Quatre.

Then why was his present the greatest shock, one would ask? Because he'd thought Wufei had a certain dislike of Quatre. He'd always felt some kind of tension between Wufei and him whenever they were alone. But this present he had given him would force them to spend time together so that was proof Wufei didn't really hate him, wasn't it? Being accepted was hard, but Quatre currently felt real close to getting there.

Self defence lessons! That was something Quatre expected to never get! The down thing was that he'd have to get up early every morning except on sundays for they practised from 6.30 till 7.30, but that didn't matter. He'd had 3 lessons so far and he'd felt a lot less clumsy this morning than he had the first morning. Besides that, the lessons were funny as well ans the two of them were now scheming plans to get Heero and Duo together. Quatre couldn't wait till new years eve when they were going out!

But he'd have to wait just a few more days until it was time for that plan to be put into action.

So now he had decided to put the computer game away for a change and he was playing on his violin. The beautiful sound filled his room with music and Quatre's thoughts trailed off to nowhere in particular when he suddnely heard a flute had joined him, the same flute he'd heard the other day. This was it. This was the moment he had been waiting for! He hadn't pushed his door shut on purpose so all he had to do was walk over there and open the door (with his foot, doh!) to see who it was.

Quatre did just that. He moved to the door, dancing on the motion of the music and pushed it open with his foot. Who he saw standing there, leaning against the wall near the corner, eyes closed his hands on the flute, playing along with a small smile on his face was no one other than...

Trowa Barton!

He played music? He played the flute? No way. . . Quatre was so shocked he completely forgot to continue playing. Trowa's eyes shot open at the sudden stop of music and he stared up at Quatre, eyes in shock. The greenest eyes he'd ever seen locked with Quatre's own and it seemed to take an eternity before they moved away.

Trowa, realizing he'd been caught, wheeled around and stormed off before Quatre could do anything to stop him.

"No wait!" Quatre quickly followed the youth, but when he rounded the corner where Trowa had disappeared, the taller one was no where in sight.

Quatre sighed. No matter how Trowa had acted in the past, he had to admit the boy was pretty good. And they sounded so good tgether! Could they perhaps. . .? No way! That would never be. Trowa might have changed a little. . . Okay, a lot, but he was still always Trowa, the one that who had made a great deal out of making his life a hell.

He decided it would be best to forget about this. Or at least not to mention any of it to the other boys. He knew how they'd act.

T.B.C.

Okay, so that was a strange scene here, but hey, I am the writer, I am the one to say what's going on! I hope to continue this story a.s.a.p. again. I'm sorry for the readers I have probably lost, but oh well, it IS my own fault, isn't it?

If you want to be on my mailing list, my e-mail address is in my profile

No review, no continue

little princess


	9. Chapter Eight: Old years eve

Chapter Eight: Old years eve

The story shifts back to Duo Maxwell again and we have now arrived at December 31st and are following the boys as they are waiting in line to get inside Hilde's club. They had to show their ID-cards and those not sixteen yet got a stamp on their hands to show they weren't allowed to buy alcohol yet. Of course this didn't help much for their friends could easily get it for them, but it was legal procedure and so it had to be done. Non of the boys got a stamp though, for all of them were sixteen.

Once inside Heero raised an eyebrow and glanced at Duo "You sixteen already?"

Duo shrugged. "Dunno. But the ID I got says so." It was true, he had no idea when his birthday was, but someone had obviously decided it was somewhere in November.

Heero blinked, but didn't ask. That was Wufei's job "Maxwell, you'll never cease to amaze me."

The club was pretty big and it was crowded for this time of the evening. Normally most of the teenagers didn't come until 23.00 but now the club was allready pretty full and a lot of dancing was going on as well. This was probably because it was December 31st, holidays were always different.

Was it dark and cold outside, inside it was quite the opposite and spotlights in different colors and neonlight flashed to all sides of the club, moving on the rhythem of the loud trance music that was played in the club. Special white spotlights were arranged so that they moved their light all over the large stage at the back of the club and lots of people were dancing on that stage, showing off for everybody.

In the beginning the boys took it easy, they settled themselves at the bar, drinking beer, chatting a bit –well, Duo was doing most of the talking, trying to engage the others in his conversation– but as midnight kept drawing nearer the boys started dancing and chatting with a group of girls.

It was still early in the evening when Duo saw a couple of girls to his taste. And, after having a couple of beers but not being totally drunk yet, he decided this night was to have fun. However, the girls might have been sitting alone, and they were polite to Duo when he spoke to them, only minutes after he'd arrived there, two boys a little older than himself shoved him aside and kissed the girls straight on the mouth, glaring at Duo and making it obvious to whom these girls belonged.

Duo walked off like a dog with its tail between his legs, back to the bar where he was soon enough joined by a grinning Chang. "No luck with the ladies, Maxwell?"

Duo 'humpf-ed'. "I don't want them anyway."

"You mean they don't want you?" The Chinese one smirked.

"Chang," Duo said slightly annoyed by his roommate making fun of his failure. He'd be damned if he let anybody waltz on his pride like that. "I could get anyone I want when I want them."

"Yeah right." The Chinese muttered. "In your dreams I bet you can."

"Not just dreams, my friend, reality as well." He was surprised at how convincing he sounded.

"Okay, prove it."

"What?"

"I dare you."

Duo narrowed his eyes, wondering whether he should quit the alcohol. "What are you talking about?"

Wufei put on an innocent face as he explained what he had in mind. "I'll point out one person in this club and at twelve o'clock exactly you will kiss that one. On the mouth of course. I'll bet you ten bucks you won't succeed!"

Duo glanced at the clock. Twelve huh? That left him with half an hour to get contact. That should be more than enough.

"Fine, Wuffer-man," he said, sounding more convinced than he actually was, "I'll take that bet."

Wufei growled at the nickname, but chose to ignore it. This should prove to be fun. "Agreed." He said. And he knew exactly who he was going to make him kiss. . .

"Good. Then the 'lucky' one you will kiss is. . ." Wufei glanced around before he pointed to someone in the club. "There." He decided, smiling mischievous.

Duo glanced in the direction of his finger and trough the crowd, he focussed his eye on the one Wufei meant. On a bar stool he saw his victim sipping beer. The 'chosen one' sat with the back facing Duo, but he could see the one had short, unruly hair spiking out in every direction possible and was obviously talking with the blonde in the bar stool close by. Though he only saw the back of his victim, Duo recognised the green shirt immediately.

"B-But. . ." He stammered as he couldn't take his eyes off his victim. "That's Heero."

"So?"

"That's. . . he's a boy."

"You never said I had to chose a girl."

Duo recalled the previous conversation, only to come to the conclusion Wufei was right. He had indeed not said it had to be a girl. Damn, this was no good. He couldn't kiss Heero! Heero was his friend for god's sake! His cool and good-looking friend perhaps, but still his friend. He growled. "Wufei. This is so unfair."

"I know." The Chinese grinned.

Then again. . . This WAS an ideal way to find out how much he really cared about his roommate. Maybe after kissing the boy he would be able to tell whether he wanted more or not. With this idea in the back of his head he forced a grin onto his face. "Fine, prepare to loose big time!"

His grin broadened as he watched the slightly surprised expression on the Chinese's face. Obviously he hadn't expected Duo to take this bet. But he quickly covered his surprise. "Speak for yourself." He silently wished Duo good luck, for he believed the younger one would definitely need it.

Duo walked away from Wufei, not seeing how the Chinese one gave a certain blond Arabic thumbs up, muttering something that sounded surprisingly close to plan A being put to action. He needed some time to think this over. How the heck was he gonna pull this stunt?

For the next half hour Duo was having a bad stomach-ache. Knowing the reason, but not willing to admit it, he decided to stay as far away from Heero as possible. As the minutes seem to pass by like eternities on their own, he danced with some girls and took another beer, hoping it would give him the guts to do it.

Two minutes before midnight he decided to start making his way over to Heero, so he could do as he was told. He saw Wufei moving in to see it as well. Duo glanced around for Quatre, but the blonde was nowhere in sight. That was strange. This was the first time Quatre went to a club and in the beginning he hadn't even once left Duo's side. Maybe he was with that tall guy he'd seen him dancing with before.

But he didn't have any time to contemplate on his friend's business for it was only a few seconds till midnight and he was now standing next to Heero, both of them looking expectantly at the big clock above the stage, counting down with the others in chorus.

(10)

People got excited, that much was obvious.

(9)

Duo moved closer to his roommate so that he was sure to be the first one to reach him. He didn't dare to touch him, though.

(8)

His stomach had been having trouble keeping calm the past half hour, but had he thought it showed back then, now he was sure he was going to explode. And he didn't know if he really liked this feeling or not.

(7)

All he could think about now was Heero's wrath afterwards. If he were angry after being kissed, which no doubt he would be, Duo would never hear the end of it!

(6)

'Oh god' 

(5)

'_Halfway there. . .'_

(4)

Wufei was watching him, smirking.

(3)

What would it be like? He'd imagined kissing Heero before, but never thought about this ever happening in reality. It had never been more than a dream.

'_But obviously dreams can come true.' _Don't start thinking about that!

(2)

Almost now

(1)

One more. . .

(0)

NOW!

As the clock started striking twelve times to indicate midnight, Duo turned to grab Heero to kiss him, but he felt movement next to him. He jerked his head sideways to see. . . some blonde girl kissing Heero right in front of him!

Duo stared at them from beside. The girl was about the same height as Heero. Her blond hair was so long it reached her waist and her dark eyebrows split into two like a serpent's tongue. She had her eyes closed while Heero's were wide open with surprise, though Duo couldn't make out whether it was a happy surprise or an unpleasant one.

Duo blinked. The blonde's lips were still on Heero's

Duo blinked again. The blonde finally pulled away.

Heero blinked. Duo opened his mouth to speak but couldn't find his voice.

Heero narrowed his eyes as the blonde flashed his roommate a playful smile and started speaking. "Happy new-year, handsome." With that she smiled and walked away, winking at Heero, leaving him gaping at her while his brain was trying to comprehend what had just happened.

Duo finally found his voice back again. "Hey, that's just what I wanted to do."

Heero turned around facing Duo but before either of them could speak Wufei interfered, wearing a grin Duo could only describe as creepy. He pulled Duo away from Heero and widened his grin.

"Looks like you lost, buddy."

"It's not fair, you know, I didn't even get a chance to do it. That dense girl beat me to it!"

"Still you lost."

"I'm telling you man, it wasn't my fault! I-I would've done it if she. . ."

"If she didn't beat you to it, I know. But she beat you to it anyway so you lost." Wufei started walking away, but decided to call something back. "Get your money on the table, Maxwell, you're going to pay up!"

The rest of the evening Duo stayed out of Heero's way, afraid he might have heard that comment he'd made after the ugly kissed him. Well, she hadn't been that ugly, but to do that to Heero in front of him! Duo had every right to call her ugly! He was glad the others were there now as well. That way, it wasn't until they were in their room that Heero could speak up. That was something Duo wasn't looking forward to. He just hoped the other boy would forget or something, maybe he hadn't even heard the comment. Or else Duo could always pretend to be asleep

He looked for Quatre. He hadn't wished him happy new year yet. When he couldn't find him immediately he decided to walk around a bit to see if he could spot his blonde friend. But Quatre didn't seem to be waiting for him, for he was –obviously drunk, poor guy, first night out­– dancing happily with someone Duo could only see his back from. The boy was taller than Quatre, probably taller than Duo as well. He decided not to bother the blond now, but he did feel the need to keep an eye on him. Quatre and drunk for the first time would certainly lead to vulnerability and the last thing he wanted was to see Quatre get hurt just because he wanted to have a good time. His head alone would be hurting enough in the morning.

By the time they had to get back to the orphanage Duo had to drag Quatre out of the club, so far gone was he. He was singing loudly all the way back, trying to get Duo to join him who obviously didn't feel like it and even Heero's death glare didn't scare Quatre enough to shut his mouth. Halfway to the orphanage he just lay down saying he'd had a good time but was too tired and as soon as he closed his eyes, he was asleep.

Had he been completely sober, Duo would have laughed at this and make fun of Quatre, but he wasn't sober and he wasn't in a too good a mood either because of the events of that night, the dread of Heero Yuy's death glare and the prospect of his anger about what happened earlier. So he just grunted and together with Wufei he picked up the blonde youth and so they carried him all the way back to the orphanage, where they put him in his room.

Somebody was going to wake up late the next morning and when he did, that certain somebody would probably be puking on everything and suffer a nice little headache. . . Better stay out of that certain someone's way because even Quatre could be scary when he was agitated.

'_Not as scary as Heero, though.'_

Duo sighed as he closed the door to Quatre's room, said goodnight to Wufei and followed Heero who was heading for their own bedroom. Once there he sat down on his own bed, waiting for Heero to speak up, but he didn't. He just started undressing. Duo watched him do this absentminded. Was Heero dragging this out for a purpose? Or maybe he just didn't know what to say? Whatever he was thinking now, his slightly muscular body looked in perfect shape. He wondered how he got in like that, it wasn't as if he ever worked out or anything, all he ever did was typing away on any computer he could get his hands on.

By this time, Heero had put on his nightclothes and was looking at Duo.

"Duo? Anything wrong?" he asked the staring youth.

Duo looked up at Heero and remembered he'd just been staring at his roommate's body. He turned away his face which he was sure was getting a shade of red. "N-no, everything's fine, nothings wrong, I'm fine. Just drunk and tired." Heero stared at him with a suspicious look but Duo ignored it, or at least pretended to be ignoring him, as he started undressing himself. Heero got in his own bed as did Duo once he was done. Just before his head hit his pillow he figured Heero hadn't heard the comment about kissing him. The next moment he fell into a dreamless sleep.

T.B.C.

_A/N:_ Now who could that girl kissing Heero be? (I am soooo evil!) grinns

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little princess


	10. Chapter Nine: New developments

I was working on the story today and I could have sworn I had already updated up to chapter 11, so I was going to update chapter 12, only to find the last chapter anywhere online is chapter 8! I can tell you, chapter 10-12 are done so I will probably be updating those shortly.

-

Chapter Nine: New developments

-

At the beginning of the new year things seemed to go pretty normal. Duo spent less time with Saria and more time with his friends. Quatre couldn't stop talking about the training Wufei gave him and was always bragging a bit about their 10 minutes of sparring, always saying he came so close to beating Wufei. The Chinese just let him dream on, but he did make sure everybody except Quatre knew he always let the blonde think he had a chance. He said he left openings to be attacked on purpose and stuff like that to see if Quatre knew what to do and how to attack. He also included that he'd have to work on his balance because he couldn't counter fast enough without falling or anything.

Wufei never said the blonde was 'good' or 'bad' or even 'improving', but he didn't say any negative either and with Wufei that meant a lot. It meant more that just accepting it. When Duo first proposed the idea Wufei had reacted a little bit reluctant, as if he didn't want anyone invading his privacy and they would if they trained with him.

Duo was beginning to wonder if he perhaps really liked training Quatre. He didn't have anyone else to train with so maybe that was the reason those two suddenly seemed to be such good friends. A few times he'd even seen them whispering together but the moment one of them spotted him they grew silent and just greeted him polite. Once, Duo asked them what they were talking about but they just said it was nothing, just some stuff about training and that was all they would say.

Duo seemed to keep running into Heero more and more but he figured that was just his imagination. Now that he truly knew how he felt about him and got to the point where he had decided to admit to himself –and only to himself– that he was in love with his roommate, or at least felt more than just friendship, he seemed to notice the boy's presence everywhere he went. They used the library at the same time, went down for breakfast at the same time –Quatre had been making a habit out of picking Duo up only minutes after Heero had left to keep him from being late in school– and they went to bed at the same time during the week. Duo often felt uneasy because of this, but never mentioned it to anyone. After all, Heero was a boy and so was he. Besides that, Heero wasn't in love with him. Knowing that fact only made the pain in his heart and the emptiness in his soul grow.

So he tried to focus on something else, like Quatre. One day, shortly after the holidays he'd come to Duo telling him about this dream where he was kissing this incredible good kisser and he loved doing it, but whenever he drew away, he couldn't see who it was for large bangs of dark brown hair covered one eye. But the other eye was visible and it was the purest green he'd ever seen. He felt like he was drowning every time he looked into those eyes. Then, after they'd been staring for a little while Quatre wanted to pull back to see more than just the eyes, but whenever he tried that, the other one would just disappear.

The only information Quatre had was that it was a boy whom he vaguely thought he knew, with brown hair and green eyes and he was taller than him. But who could it be?

When Duo heard this story Quatre had been having those dreams for awhile, but he'd always hesitated to tell because he was afraid someone would think it weird that he would dream about a boy. However, after he had told Duo everything they'd had a little chat about being gay and this really seemed to cheer Quatre up a lot. Duo was sure Quatre understood no-one who mattered would think any less of him if he turned out to be gay or bi but while he was talking, he was having the feeling he was trying to convince himself instead of Quatre. Of course, the innocent youth never noticed this.

January passed without many difficulties besides some heavy storms and snowfall. In school all was going well with Duo except for the history part. Who cared who was president of the US in what times and what he'd done to please the people? Who cared which European country had started which colony and what they had expected to get from it? And above all, who cared about the conflict between the US and Russia? What did they call it? Silent war? Something stupid like that. Either it's a war or it's not, right?

The one subject Duo did enjoy now was science. The teacher was really cool. He was the only teacher who allowed his students to call him by his first name, Howard. However, whenever anyone else entered the classroom they all obediently called him by his last name, only to burst out in laughter the moment the classroom door was shut again. This was all some kind of game to them.

Right now, the subject they were discussing was soundwaves and it wasn't very hard. Howard showed them many stuff and really made the classes fun and interesting. He used a guitar to explain about strings and he used a trombone to show about sound waves how they differ when the air is warmer and how a longer tube makes different sound waves as well. And of course, they all got to try that last one out for themselves, causing several other teachers, under whom Tsuborav of history, to march into the classroom demanding to know what the hell was going on. Duo was sure he would never forget f v / lt;/p>

Duo really liked science. He was thinking of going in that direction if he ever got the opportunity. He wanted to become a mechanic or something in that direction though he'd have to improve his math a bit. He was not very good in differentiating and that part of math though that was something often used in science. He could understand it as long as they kept with yx2 but the moment they threw in the e or sinus or co-sinus he was at a complete loss. He knew e was just a number and when you differentiated e you still got e but somehow it still made no sense. And sinus became co-sinus and that became -sinus and it might just as well have been written in Greek for Duo wouldn't understand it any worse if it were. He could of course always depend on Heero when it came to copying homework in secret, but it would still mean he didn't understand much of it. And asking the boy to explain it to him was not an option either. He couldn't give an exact reason why he didn't want to ask his roommate for help, but he was sure that whatever reasons he had were good reasons. If only he could come up with them. . .

February wasn't much different from January and if it weren't for that one very little detail Duo never would have noticed anything different. But something was not right. And Duo began to figure that out when Quatre was late for their appointment to study together. Quatre was never late... And he never wore cologne. He didn't even know his blonde friend had that stuff!

From that day on Duo decided to watch Quatre and soon found out that he was indeed spending more time by himself than usual. However, Duo didn't see him leave the orphanage more than he usually did and that was strange. Quatre wasn't exactly very popular among the kids in the orphanage or the rest of the school. They used to bully him to no end. Duo could hardly believe he would even want to get close to anyone besides their little group.

'Maybe he's found the guy of his dreams,' Duo thought, 'literally.' 

That would really be nice. If there was anyone Duo wished all the luck, it would be Quatre. That young boy must've been trough so much even before he arrived there. He had been like a helpless boy, almost drowning in the loneliness when Duo only pushed him further down the water. But then he'd realized what he'd been doing and he had held out his hand to the youth, to the anger of one boy that had already been his rival, not caring that he only made the rich boy's hate even worse. And Quatre had grasped his hand and held it as tight as he could.

Duo had to grit his teeth a couple of times to keep himself from letting go, but it had been worth it. Quatre proved to be a good friend, one you could always depend on and though he could sometimes be a little naive, even if Duo had the chance to change one thing about the golden boy, he would leave him just the way he was. Quatre was a great guy and never, ever, did Duo regret making up for his mistake by letting him on his team.

Quatre's friendship had been worth every bit of effort he'd put into it, even when Trowa almost managed to cut off his braid. The blonde's ever-cheerful mood was enough to make Duo forget all his troubles, if only for a minute. After Solo had come for him that night, but he had refused to go back with him, he had been feeling guilty, like he left his gang behind for a better life. You never left your gang behind, you just didn't do that. You didn't go off and lead a better life when your friends were out there freezing half to death! Solo'd had ever right to be mad at Duo, but this had been his only chance of success in the future and though his heart didn't agree, his mind had been screaming that he'd have to take it.

One's mind and heart don't go hand in hand, your head and your heart are never one. But sometimes, sometimes you just had to follow your common sense in order to get anywhere in a world fucked up as this. And that is exactly what Duo had done when he'd decided to stay where he was.

So maybe all this effort had been nothing more than trying to escape the guilty feeling he'd had after that night, or maybe he was just trying to ease it by showing himself he was doing something good here by helping someone back into the land of the living. But really, who cared about that now? So many things had happen already ever since they became friends.

Duo was happy for Quatre, really happy that he had found someone other than Duo he could be close with. He'd felt a bit jealous maybe in the beginning, but when he thought about it he couldn't help but laugh at himself and, carefully avoiding the Heero-subject, He wondered when he'd started caring so much. But that didn't matter much. Quatre had found someone to love, and though Duo couldn't wait to find out who it was, it was Quatre's right to tell them when he was ready so he just played fool and didn't ask. He was perfectly content with this. That is, until he found out exactly who that tall, green-eyed boy was. . .

It was just a normal afternoon in February and Duo was bored. He had just completed his homework and was now looking for something else to do. He didn't want to go outside because it was raining So he started wandering around the orphanage for a bit, trying to find something fun or useful to do. Heero was in the library working on some school assignment they got in English class today but it wasn't due until next month so Duo figured he could wait a few weeks before starting it. No need to rush things now when they could be done later.

Eventually Duo decided to check on Quatre. He hadn't seen the blonde much outside school lately so he figured he could spend some time with him. He turned around and made his way over to Quatre's room. Without paying attention to the noise inside he opened the door and walked in.

"Hey Q-ma. . ." His voice was lost in the vision he saw before him. Quatre appeared to be making out with an other boy. And not just any boy, no, this was. . . TROWA!

The moment he heard his door being thrown open, Quatre broke the kiss and jerked his head up. Shock and fear written all over his face he looked at Duo. "Duo?" He panted.

"You bastard!" Duo made a sound close to a growl as he yanked Trowa off the bed, away from Quatre. The shocked boy was flung into a wall and was doing his best to keep standing. But Duo didn't care. He was hurting Quatre again and he was going to pay dearly for it. It had to end here. He swung his fist at the boy who was bracing himself against the wall, but Trowa didn't do anything to avoid it. The fist hit his right eye and the back of his head smacked against the wall. Duo drew back to hit the taller boy again, but at that moment Quatre jumped in front of him, spreading his arms as if to protect Trowa and glared at Duo.

"Stop!"

Duo stopped his fist just in time, but didn't drop it. "Get out of the way Quatre. "I'll make clear to him once and for all that he isn't wanted here!"

But Quatre didn't move. "No Duo!"

"Look Quatre, I understand it's not in your nature, but you don't always have to be protecting everyone. Some people deserve to get hurt!" Those last words were spat at the taller boy.

"Nobody deserves to get hurt!" Quatre shot back.

"You don't understand, Quatre, he. . ."

"No YOU don't understand Duo! I invited him in!"

"W-Wha?" Duo was at a loss for words. Surely he had heard that wrong? What could Quatre possibly want with a jerk like Trowa? Someone who had hurt him so much in the past?

"Remember when I told you about that dream I'd been having with the kissing and all the stuff?" Quatre got Duo's attention back at this. The braided boy stared at his smaller friend, afraid to hear the last part. "That boy I was kissing was Trowa!"

"Quatre, that was a DREAM, that wasn't real."

"It was just how I dreamt it. Duo, remember the flute I heard when I was playing the violin? That was Trowa. And then back on new years eve, in the club, when I was all drunk and stuff, I danced with Trowa and I guess I kissed him then and that's what I've been remembering all this time." Duo couldn't believe his ears. This couldn't be happening. Trowa took advantage of him while he was Drunk? That was such a low thing to do! Surely Quatre could not be falling for Trowa's cheep tricks. Why couldn't he see trough him? But Quatre wasn't done talking yet. He dropped his arms and in a softer voice he continued. "I care for Trowa, Duo. And he cares for me. We've been together for weeks now!"

"B-but. . ." Duo started, but never got to finish.

"You have no idea how many times I have been wanting to tell you this but I couldn't because I knew you would react like this. But I love him so please Duo, don't make me choose between you or him."

"You love him?" Duo laughed sarcastically. "You dare say you LOVE him? How can you love him after everything he's done to you? Have you just forgotten how he used to pick on you, how he made you feel liek you were nothing? Don't you see that this all all an act, a fucking act to win you over, only so that he can hurt you even more?"

"You don't understa. . ." But now Duo wouldn't let Quatre finish. He was raging inside, angry at himself for not noticing this sooner. Angry at Quatre for not understanding what he did understand, that this was all fake and that the only thing that could come from this was Quatre getting hurt again.

"No I DON'T understand! And I don't want to either!" Quatre kept his face determined though. Not once during Duo's outrages before had he shown a hint of doubt about what he was doing and he was still keeping that up. Duo threw his hands in the air. If you want to be with him the fine," He snapped, "but don't come crying back to me when he's shown his real self again!" After that Duo stormed off.

Quatre called after him, and was about to follow him but a hand placed on his shoulder stopped him and made him turn around. Trowa shook his head to indicate he should give hiim some time.

Duo slammed the door, but didn't walk off right away. He listened to the voices inside the room, trying to detect any wrong word from Trowa, who hadn't said a word so far. But he spoke up now.

"I'm sorry I cause so much trouble."

Duo heard the rustling of clothes and the bed squeaked soon after, indicating a weight being set on it.

"It's not your fault." He heard Quatre's voice. "I want you and if they can't accept that it's their loss."

Duo decided he'd heard enough. He stormed off back to his room, glaring at anything and anyone he met on his way there.

T.B.C.

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No review, no continue

little princess


	11. Chapter Ten: No title

I was going to describe the shower scene better, but then I remembered this fic was supposed to be PG13 and not R so I decided to take it easy.

Chapter Ten:

-

Needless to say Duo was pretty upset about this change of reality. Sure, Quatre was naive sometimes, but he couldn't believe the smaller youth was that stupid. Of all people he trusted Trowa!

Duo was glad to find his room empty. Had Heero been there he would've probably blurted everything out to him and that was definitely not a good idea. He couldn't talk to Heero about this. He hadn't been able to have a decent conversation with Heero about anything lately because only the smallest glance of the boy brought shivers down his spine. He would've thought that after the new year party his crush would slowly disappear, but instead it just grew and every girl looking at Heero, getting his attention made him jealous. He couldn't talk to Heero about anything, let alone this.

Sure as hell he couldn't tell Wufei either. That boy really acted like he didn't know the first thing about how to deal with life partners. Besides, he would probably react just like Duo had done and would want to beat Trowa to a bloody pulp. Even though the boy might deserve that, Duo still didn't want to get the others in trouble.

He kicked the leg of his bed only to swear out loud as he hurt his toe. This was not good. He needed to relieve some stress but there was nothing in the room worth the risk of breaking. So finally Duo decided to get a shower. That usually helped him relax a little, think about the subject of matter.

The water was hot and Duo closed his eyes as he welcomed the liquid on his body. Normally he didn't take long showers because people tended to blame it on his hair, but he figured that today that wouldn't mind. Even though he'd washed his hair last night, he unbraided it now and ran his shampooed fingers trough the long, thick strands. He massaged his head as if he was trying to force the anger out that way, but it didn't really seem to help much. He closed his eyes, trying to concentrate, but all he saw was the mental picture of Trowa and Quatre together, making him only more angry than he already was.

When he was done with his hair he got some soap on his hands and washed the rest of his body. He never used a washing glove. He didn't like the rough sense of that material on his skin. He closed his eyes again, forcing the pictures of Quatre and Trowa together away, only to have them replaced by pictures of a certain youth with a slightly Japanese appearance. Duo opened his eyes wide and panted for a moment before he shook his head to get that picture to go away. Suddenly the hot water wasn't so comforting anymore so Duo turned it off and got out of the shower. He tied a towel around his hair, forcing all of it tu stuck in there while he dried the rest of his body and got dressed. Then he let his hair fall down and slowly started combing it.

The shower hadn't done much with the anger, but at least he felt a little less tense now. He glanced in the mirror to see his reflection combing his hair and for a moment he wish he could be that reflection. At least it meant he could leave the thinking behind and just mimic what the other one was doing. That way he didn't have to worry about blond friends getting hurt by tall beasts. Because that was the only word he could find to describe Trowa, a beast, like a snake, waiting for the right time to drop Quatre so that he would hurt the most. And Quatre was willing to let that happen.

'That's no love' Duo thought bitter´That's foolishness' 

He started braiding his damp hair tighter than usual. Damn, he knew it was a mistake to tell Sally Trowa didn't need to be transferred to another orphanage after what he'd tried with him. He should've told her to let him go, have him placed in a stricter orphanage like she'd suggested or at least have him follow Jeice and Darryl to god-knows-where. He didn't even know why he had protested. Something about him being forced to change here now that everybody knew who he was? That sounded stupid. People like Trowa never changed. Sure, he had become quiet, he hardly had any contact with anyone and hadn't pulled a trick since the one event. But ho knew what he had been plotting all that while alone in his room somewhere on the third floor. He had been stripped of his money, didn't have access to half as much as he used to have and wouldn't have access to the rest until he turned eighteen. He didn't have to talk to a shrink though. Duo was still talking to Miss Noin every week though basically he just told her about his week. Miss Noin had said that she believed he was alright, but it was in the deal that he would see her every week for at least a year and less than half of that time was over.

Duo bit his tongue as he yanked his now half-braided hair a bit harder than he had wanted. He really needed to talk to someone about what he had seen when he'd entered Quatre's room. Heero and Wufei were out of the question, that was clear by now, but there weren't many other people left to talk to. Maybe he could try and talk to Saria? She hadn't been around when Trowa did what he did to him so maybe she could give him a clearer view, or at least a different one than the one where he wanted to kill the taller of the two 'lovers'. Yeah, that was all he could do now.

So when his hair was braided he went to the common room but she wasn't there. Her roommate, however, was there and she told Duo Saria was in her room. So that's where Duo went. And indeed the younger girl was there, reading a book. She welcomed him in the moment she noticed him and put down her book. A little awkward at first –usually it was her who came to him– Duo started telling her what had happened. Saria heard him out before she spoke up.

"Well, maybe it was before my time, but to me Trowa seems okay to me. A little drawn back perhaps, I don't know him very well, but he doesn't seem the type of boy who'd hurt anyone."

"You're right, it WAS before your time." Duo stated. "He used to be the bully of the orphanage."

"Really?" Saria sounded surprised to hear that. "You wouldn't say that now, the way he acts. He seems to close himself off for any human contact and he's always by himself. He didn't even come down to open the presents with the rest of us back at Christmas."

Duo blinked. Trowa was the one who hadn't been there? He remembered indeed that Sally said someone was missing, but when he checked to see who exactly was missing, he must've forgotten about Trowa How could he have missed that fact?

"But still," he told Saria, "I know he's only going to hurt Quatre. He's bullied him for as long as I can remember. How can Quatre just forget about that when it happened only months ago?"

Saria shrugged. "I'm not sure I'm the person to ask. I'm not very busy with love and that kind of things yet. I only know what I hear around me."

Duo sighed. She was probably right. But he didn't have anyone else to talk to.

Saria must've seen his expression because she decided to take a shot anyway. "I know it doesn't sound fair, but you can't just change the way you feel. And besides, Quatre is a big boy, shouldn't he be allowed to make his own mistakes?"

Duo laughed at her serious words so all of a sudden. "Now you sound like Solo."

"I learned from the best." She replied, referring to Duo himself who had always looked up to Solo and used to entertain the group by mimicking him in a funny kind of way whenever he was gone. "Look Duo, I'm not saying you should just forgive the guy for whatever it is he did to you, but just think about what I said. I know you probably don't want to believe it, but people can change. If you really care about Quatre, I think rather than pushing him away you should support him and be there for him despite your own feelings."

"But how can I do that after everything that happened?" Duo asked. "I don't trust Trowa the least little bit. I can't just pretend I can accept him."

Saria shrugged again. "You're going to have to try if your friendship with Quatre means anything to you."

That was about all the conversation took because at that moment Saria's roommate walked in with another friend, one from which Duo knew she had a little crush on him. Saria's roommate must've warned her that he was there.

The girl was a thirteen-year-old blonde who was a lot smaller than Duo, wearing a thin dress even though it was winter, not attractive at all and she was being really annoying by always saying 'hi' to him in such a way that he was thinking, 'Oh God, not again. . .' Saria had laughed at first and teased him with it, but he didn't really mind. It was just a little crush from a little girl and it would be over soon enough. . . Or so he hoped.

But right now, he was not in the mood to face the girl and talk with her. So as polite but fast as he could, he fled the room and went back to his own room where, surprisingly, he found that Heero had returned.

He glanced at the braided boy as he walked in and obviously he found something interesting concerning the youth's hair, for his gaze stayed there for a moment.

"Anything wrong with my hair?" Duo shot, a bit meaner than he had wanted to sound, but he didn't care. He was still debating Saria's words and didn't want to think about Heero right now.

Heero, ignoring Duo's tone, decided to answer the question. "You showered at this hour? Why?"

Yeah right, Duo thought, it wasn't as if Heero actually cared. He should know by now that not all people were as perfect as he was. "I just needed it, okay?" Duo snapped. Though he regretted his tone, he was happy Heero just gave a grunt and nothing more than that.

He let his body fall down on his bed and rubbed his suddenly tired head with his hand, trying to ease the pain.

'_Quatre is a big boy, shouldn't he be allowed to make his own mistakes?'_

That had sounded so much like what Solo would say, Duo could swear he'd been whispering those words into Saria's mind. Damn it, Duo really missed the guy at times like these. He might not always be the smartest one, Duo had to admit that when it came to learning from books, he was far ahead of the elder boy, but Solo knew what he had to know to survive and he always knew what to say whenever Duo came with a problem.

That was Solo fer ya, a good friend, the only one Duo could depend on back then and he'd busted his own group by selling them out to Zechs for their own sake. Ironic, wasn't it? But Duo was glad he'd never told Saria what Solo had done. She didn't need to know. It would only make her world fall apart even more than it had already done. She'd believed in him, trusted him and he'd betrayed her and sent her to Duo but she still saw him as her hero. Life was so unfair sometimes.

But what about what she'd just told him? Was she right? Should he try and protect Quatre or would that only drive him away from him?

'_If you really care about Quatre, I think rather than pushing him away you should support him and be there for him despite your own feelings.'_

Could he dod that? Could he possibly pretend he was okay with the whole situation? Or should he just leave Quatre alone until he found out what kind of boy Trowa really was and then let him cry out in his arms, saying 'I told you so'? He really didn't want to loose Quatre but he also didn't want to just stand by and watch as he got hurt. Duo closed his eyes, trying to think clear but a certain noise kept penetrating his thoughts.

'_Oh, damn Yuy and his laptop!'_

Duo got up angrily and stalked over to the door.

"Where are you going?" His roommate asked.

"Out!" Duo sneered.

"But it's almost dinnertime." The other one remarked.

Duo didn't reply on this. Who cared what time it was? Quatre was making the biggest mistake of his life, one that could kill him and he wouldn't allow Duo to correct that mistake. Was he going to do as Saria had advised him and stand by Quatre?

He needed to think. And what better place to do that than outside? The rain wasn't coming down as fast as it did only on hour ago, but it hadn't completely stopped either. Right now Duo didn't care. He had to go out, get some fresh air, think.

Duo didn't know where he was going but he really didn't care. He didn't even watch the traffic as he crossed the streets and one time this resulted in him almost getting hit by a car. The driver hung out of his window, yelling at the idiot who crossed streets without checking for traffic, but Duo just ignored it and walked on, lost in his trail of thoughts. He was still debating what to do with Quatre, but by the time he found himself back at the orphanage again, he had made up his mind. He was going to talk to hhim and apologise and they were going to work this out. He wouldn't accept Trowa but he would respect Quatre having his own life and he would tell him he wanted to be there for him because their friendship meant the world to Duo and he was certain it meant a lot to Quatre as well.

He checked his watch before he entered the orphanage and realized to his big surprise that he had been out for more than an hour. Since it was winter it meant that it was dark outside as well. Duo hadn't even noticed it getting dark! He was cold and soaked and wanted nothing more than to get in and warm his body with, again, a ice hot shower, but he decided some things were more important than others and so he glanced in the common room to see he wasn't there and then headed straight for Quatre's room. He listened carefully before he knocked, making sure Quatre was not there with Trowa or anybody else, because he wanted to talk to Quatre in private. When he heard no noise he knocked.

"Quatre? Are you in there?"

no answer. He had to be pretty mad.

"Quatre? It's me, Duo."

Still nothing.

"Look, I came to apologise to you. I acted like a jerk today and I-I'm sorry. Please open the door and talk to me."

Again, there was no sound coming from the other side of the door.

Duo sighed. Maybe Quatre wasn't in there after all? Or maybe he was asleep. He decided to see for himself and opened the door, half expecting to be greeted by the sight of Quatre laying on his bed, sleeping soundlessly, but instead the picture he saw was completely different. The room was dark and Quatre was nowhere in sight. The window was wide open, allowing the cold wind to replace all the heat in the room as it left the curtains dancing on its waves. The room looked neat as ever, except for the few pencils that had fallen on the floor.

Duo walked in and picked up the pencils and placed them back on the desk, knowing Quatre hated a messy room. He walked over to the window and glanced outside. They were on the fourth floor of the building and it was so dark outside that Duo couldn't even see the parts ground which weren't lit by the few lamps that hung against the outside wall. He glanced up at the stars, noting it would be a full moon in a day or two.

He sighed. Looks like Quatre was not here. Now he was gonna have to wait after all. He closed the window before he walked out again and decided that shower really sounded nice right now.

T.B.C.

No review, no continue

little princess


	12. Chapter Eleven: Missing friends

Chapter Eleven: Missing friends

-

Duo decided to stay in his room that evening. He could do some reading for English since Heero wasn't here anyway. He would talk to Quatre tomorrow at school or something. He was reading the story of the wife of Bath when a knock on his door sounded. Maybe that was Quatre right now. He always knocked before coming in.

"Come in." Duo said and the door slowly opened.

But it wasn't Quatre who was standing in the doorway, staring at Duo. This youth was larger than Quatre and a lot thinner. His hair was darker and his eyes were green instead of the bright blue colour Quatre's eyes were.

'Trowa!' 

"What do you want?" Duo asked, not at all too nicely.

"Where is Quatre?" Trowa replied, ignoring the disgust in Duo's voice.

Duo arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean, where is Quatre?" He was his boyfriend, he should know.

"We were supposed to meet tonight but he never showed up." Trowa explained.

"And I'm supposed to know where he is?"

Trowa narrowed his eyes a bit, but nevertheless kept his voice calm. "Listen, I don't know what the two of you talked about, but if you've hurt him in any possible way I won't let you get away with it."

"What do you mean you don't know what we talked about?" Duo shot back. "You've been there the whole time."

"I mean when saw you enter his room earlier."

He'd seen him? Duo hadn't seen Trowa. But to be honest, he hadn't bothered looking if there was anyone there in the corridors anyway. "Yes, but he wasn't there."

Trowa seemed surprised by this. He was about to comment on that when he was interrupted by another voice.

"Trowa Barton." Wufei walked in view and glared at the other youth. "And what are you doing here, oh mighty, rich bastard?"

Duo was sure this would piss Trowa off because nobody called him names and got away with it. But instead of starting an assault on the smaller boy, Trowa just stepped out of Wufei's way to allow him entrance to Duo's room, and his calm voice almost seemed to greet him as he nodded. "Chang."

Wufei glared at the polite boy but Duo decided he did not want a fight here in his room. "What is it, Wufei?"

This drew the Chinese boy's attention and he turned to Duo, but not before he shot Trowa another warning glare. "I am looking for Heero. Do you know where he is?"

Duo shrugged. "Haven't seen him for hours. He's probably in the library."

"I already checked, he's not there." Wufei said. "Nor in any other part of this building. I figured you'd know where he was, seeing neither of you showed up for dinner."

Duo blinked. Heero and not showing up for dinner? That was not good. "I wasn't with him back then."

"You weren't? And you weren't with Quatre then? He didn't show up either so I figured the three of you were together."

"Maybe they were, but not with me. I was alone."

Duo had to think for a moment. Heero never missed out on dinner. Not only because it was a rule that everyone would be there, but also because that was his rhythm. He never broke his rhythm. And Quatre never left his window wide open, especially not in the winter. The blonde boy was used to warmth and couldn't stand the cold. Yet his room had felt like and ice cave when Duo had opened the door. And those two facts aside, Heero was always doing stuff with Wufei where Duo was hanging around Quatre. What could those two possibly be doing together that they completely forgot about time and space?

Unless Quatre was telling him about him and Trowa. . . Could that be it? It would explain why they were gone together. And maybe Quatre had wanted to talk before dinner because he was afraid of facing Duo. That would explain Heero's missing presence there. Still it left Duo guessing why Quatre's window had been open.

Duo was pulled out of his theory by the sound of arguing voices. Or rather, Wufei's arguing voice, Trowa hardly spoke as Wufei ranted at him about every misstep the taller one had made in the past. Looks like he suddenly remembered Trowa was there as well. Seeing Wufei yelling accusations at him like that almost made him feel sorry for the rich boy, but he quickly pushed that thought away and decided he should get their attention.

"Would you please shut up for a moment, I'm trying to think here!"

Wufei glared at him, but at least he shut up against Trowa. "That would be nice for a change." The Chinese mumbled. Duo shot him a glare back but then ignored the remark and a silence fell between the three of them. Both Wufei and Trowa were now looking at Duo.

"What?" He asked.

"I would still like to know what HE" Wufei glared at Trowa for a second before turning back to Duo "is doing here."

Duo sighed. He had found out about Quatre and Trowa by walking in on them and if the blonde was really telling Heero, no need to leave Wufei out of it. He'd find out sooner or later. "He's with Quatre."

"What!"

"He's with Quatre, as in lovers, y'know, kissing, making out, that kinda stuff."

"I know what it means, Maxwell, now what does Quatre want with _him_?" Again, the word came out with disgust. He wasn't even worth naming him, let alone asking him the questions instead of Duo.

Duo shrugged. "I dunno, I just found out today, but it seems to have been going on for weeks."

"And you're okay with this?" Wufei asked, not believing it.

"No, I am not okay with this, but there's not much we can do about it as long as Quatre isn't here, now is there?"

"We could beat him up." Wufei suggested, turning back to Trowa, who seemed to do nothing more than slightly arching an eyebrow.

Duo laughed at that. "I tried, didn't work. Only got him sympathy from Quatre."

"No shit." Wufei swore.

"Yeah, well, anyway. . ." But Duo didn't get to finish the sentence as two girls appeared in the door opening. One of them Duo recognised as Saria's roommate; the other one was the blond girl who had a crush on him. He groaned inwardly, half-praying they weren't here to torment him with Questions or such.

Obviously his prayers were answered because the roommate asked an entirely different question from what he had expected. "Hey Duo, have you seen Saria? It's almost lights out at our floor and she hasn't come back yet."

Duo stiffened. Whoever was up there had to really hate his guts. "When was the last time you saw her?" he asked them quickly.

"Well, I dunno." The roommate and her blonde friend exchanged a glance. "She didn't show up for dinner and we haven't seen her since."

Duo grew pale. He couldn't see it for the mirror wasn't anywhere close, but he could feel it. Something was definitely wrong here. Something was definitely very, VERY wrong here.

He jumped off his bed, ignoring the other four and ran downstairs to Sally's office. Without knocking he barged in there, causing Sally to look up with a jolt.

"Duo!" she looked disturbed. "Don't you knock before you barge into someone's office?"

"Sorry Sally," Duo mumbled, "But I have to talk to you about something, it's urgent."

Sally nodded and motioned for Duo to sit down. "I wanted to see you about some disturbing matters as well. Now we have rules here for a reason. . ." But Duo didn't give Sally a chance to finish.

"And lemme guess, you wanna see Heero, Quatre and Saria too? Anyone else you need to see?" He asked, informing if anyone else had gone missing

"N-no, as a matter of fact, just the four of you." Sally looked slightly puzzled. "How do you know? You were together, right?"

"Actually, no, we weren't. I was alone. But the others seem to have gone missing since before dinner." Sally narrowed his eyes, but waited for him to continue. "I can't find Quatre, Wufei doesn't know where Heero is and Saria's roommate says she hasn't seen her since she missed dinner either."

"Well, their probably just out together then I guess."

But Duo shook his head as he began explaining once again why something had to be wrong. "Saria never hangs out with Heero and Quatre and they never miss dinner. And when I entered Quatre's room his window was wide open. Quatre never leaves his window open." Duo considered telling her about this not feeling good before he continued. "I dunno, Sally. I but I got a feeling something is wrong here."

Sally thought for a moment. "That sounds strange indeed. But we shouldn't draw conclusions just yet. Let's go look and see if we can find them together first, shall we?"

Duo nodded and got up. He followed Sally out of the office and was greeted by the four who had been at his room only minutes earlier. Sally told the group not to panic anybody before she sent the two younger girls off to bed, telling them they would take care of it and then the remaining four started their search. They looked everywhere, from library to kitchen and from common room to bedrooms, even in the school part, which was forbidden after dinnertime, but the three were nowhere to be found. Eventually they gave up.

"They'll probably be somewhere outside and have forgotten time." Sally tried to reassure them as they were at Heero and Duo's room again. "I'll inform some of the teachers and if they're not present at breakfast tomorrow I'll call in somebody to investigate this."

"Tomorrow?" Duo did his best not to yell. "Do you have any idea how much can happen out there overnight?"

Sally sighed. "Yes, I know. But the police won't do anything until a certain amount of time after disappearance anyway. Right now we have to stay calm and hope they'll be back by themselves. Just go to sleep and we'll see how things are in the morning."

The three boys nodded, though neither of them felt happy about it. Sally gave them an encouraging smile before she headed back downstairs. Duo sighed and dropped himself on his bed. He glanced up at the two boys, who were obviously trying to avoid speaking to each other and therefore focussed on Duo instead. "Think hard one more time. Neither of you has heard anything from anybody? You don't know if either of them ahs mentioned anything?"

"I haven't seen the other two much," Wufei pointed out, "but Heero and I were working on a school project earlier. He didn't mention anything relevant then."

"Quatre was pretty upset about your angry response," Trowa informed them, "Though he hasn't said anything about going out for a walk or anything."

That turned Wufei's attention to Trowa again. He had been able to stand an entire search action ignoring his previous rival-in-about-anything, but now it had obviously been long enough. "How far are you exactly with Quatre?" He informed distrustful.

"Wufei! Not now please." Duo groaned and closed his eyes. He was tired and wanted nothing better than to go to sleep, but he knew he wouldn't be able to before he knew the others were safe. They did not just disappear into thin air, that was not possible. They had to be somewhere.

Duo wasn't too concerned about Heero. Though he wanted nothing more than his roommate to be safe, he had to acknowledge he was a pretty tough guy. He could take care of himself. The only thing troubling Duo was that he was the kind of guy who would easily get in a street fight. He just hoped Heero was sensible enough to avoid that.

More worried was Duo about Quatre and Saria. Both were pretty vulnerable out there, especially Quatre if he had been upset. He would be an easy target for anyone who'd want to hurt him. With Saria it helped that she knew about life on the streets so she knew what places to avoid, but she was still a girl and only thirteen. She had always been under the protection of someone, Duo and Solo back on the streets and now the orphanage itself. Though Duo tried to tell himself she'd be fine on her own, he couldn't manage to sound very convincing to himself.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw Trowa walking away.

"Where's he going?"

"Back to his room." Wufei answered. "We could do with some sleep as well."

Duo sighed. Yeah right. He was probably not going to get any sleep tonight if Heero wasn't lying in the bed next to him, breathing silently as he slept. Duo would be awake all night worrying about him. He groaned again. This was going to be one hell of a long night.

"Look, Duo. . ." Wufei started. "I'm sure he'll be okay. He's a tough guy, he can manage." Duo felt his face redden as he realised Wufei was speaking about Heero. He couldn't know, could he? That Duo had a crush on him?

Duo quickly mumbled an 'I know' before Wufei left his room.

He was all alone now, all alone with his thoughts about his three missing friends. He saw their faces every time he closed his eyes, he saw their bodies, he saw them smiling at him, laughing –Well, two of them were laughing anyway, the third one never laughed­. He heard their voices every time he tried to get rid of their images and he felt their touches every time he nearly fell asleep. And all this was only making everything worse. He couldn't shake that feeling of something being terribly wrong here and wanted nothing more than to go out there himself to find them. He was certain something had happened. Why else would Yuy not be in his own bed by the time the displayer on the radio read 2.00 h?

Duo turned around again. He'd been awake for hours but it was only tiring him more and more. He wanted to go to sleep but he couldn't. It didn't seem fair, it didn't seem right. It was not right. Something was not right.

Duo had never felt so confused and scared before. Not when Solo left him that first night, not when he got arrested, hell, not even when he had been living in the previous orphanage. And he'd had some pretty scary moments there. But that had always been his life that had been screwed with, these were the lives of three others.

'_You're overreacting, Maxwell.'_ Duo told himself.

'Am I?' 

Eventually he did fall asleep, just to be hunted by nightmares about Heero, Quatre and Saria. He was only too glad he didn't remember them in the morning.

T.B.C.

Duo and his goddamn feelings! He's spoiling my story! He shouldn't be blowing things up like that, it takes away all the fun!

No review, no continue

little princess


	13. Chapter Twelve: Solo?

Chapter Twelve: Solo?

-

Duo woke up with a terrible headache. He'd barely slept last night, waiting for Heero to return. However, one glance towards the other bed in his room showed him it had not been slept in. Even the pillow was exactly as Duo remembered it before he fell into a restless slumber.

Without Heero there to make sure he'd get up in time, it seemed even harder to push himself to get out of bed. His head felt worse with every movement he made. He forced himself to get dressed and took an aspirin against the pain before he went down to breakfast. How he hoped the three missing ones would show up now.

But alas, no such luck.

Sally wasn't very helpful either. Though she called Duo apart to tell him she'd called the police and they'd come over, she also told him that it would be best if he just went to class. No use in missing any lessons. To Duo, the usually nice headmaster sounded more like a cold bitch today. After much protest he realised he wouldn't get it his way and went back to his room to get his bag ready. One glance out of his window told him the cops were here. Duo narrowed his eyes as he saw who was obviously in lead.

Marquise?

Damn it! Why did it always have to be him? He'd accused Duo of hiding Solo somewhere, he wouldn't be surprised if the blonde cop accused him once more, this time of hurting his very own friends! Duo was more worried than Zechs could possibly understand. He didn't need this shit now.

But then what? Run away? Where would he go? He had no idea where his friends could be. He just hoped they would be all right.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to keep his attention to class, he started for the school halls to meet up with Wufei.

Not having been able to stuff anything down his throat this morning didn't help Duo any with concentrating during physics. He kept unconsciously zoning out the tone of the teacher's voice to stare outside and let his thoughts wonder. Every time he realised he wasn't listening he tried to get his attention back, but he just couldn't keep it there. Wufei noticed his friend's odd behaviour and decided to ask him what was going on. But just when he did so, movement outside had caught Duo's attention. Squinting his eyes to see if he were right he ignored his Asian friend's concerned question. When Wufei asked him again, Duo turned back to him, but not to answer what he had been asked.

"Hey Wufei, can you get my stuff to the cafeteria after this class?"

Wufei frowned, unsure of what this meant. "Yeah but. . ."

"Thanks." Duo gave no time for explanation as he quickly waved his hand in the air to gain the teacher's attention. "Sir, can I please go to the bathroom?"

After being excused, Duo wasted no time getting out of the building. Right now he didn't care much about getting caught, he just had to get out there and fast. He left the orphanage grounds and rounded a corner, to be eye to eye with...

Solo.

The elder boy nodded in acknowledgement but instead of friendly hugs or something, he cut right to the case.

"Where's Saria?" Duo blinked at that, but adapted just as easily.

"Solo. . . She's gone missing."

Solo swore under his breath. "'S worse than I expected." He muttered.

"Solo?" Duo narrowed his eyes. Worse than expected? What was going on here? Did Solo know anything more about this?

But the elder boy didn't answer anything. Instead he turned around and stated walking. "No time to explain." He said. "Come with me."

"But," Duo didn't understand. "Hey, wait a minute!"

Solo whirled around and gave his friend a stare more serious, more intense than Duo remembered ever having seen coming from the boy. "Do you trust me?"

"W-what?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do." Duo answered startled.

"Then come with me."

Confused, Duo followed.

The room wasn't exactly what one would call 'clean', seeing as how stuffy it was inside and how their dirty footsteps left marks of mud on the wooden floor, but at the least it was 'tidy'. The wooden furniture –a couch, a chair, a table with 3 other chairs and a closet holding an old tv– looked as if it was transported here right from another century after it had been about to be discarded there, but Duo didn't care. It was still good enough to be used for another year or so and that was all that mattered. Three pictures –one of the whole gang, one of the gang without Solo and one of Solo and Duo together– were taped to the wall in a very unprofessional way and the wallpaper that covered two-and-a-half of the walls seemed ready to come off tomorrow, if not today. The place was small and had only two windows, but at least it was dry and it offered a protection against the cold winter winds. That was all that Solo really needed for this to be his 'home'.

Solo didn't give Duo much time to look around as he sat himself down in the one chair beside the couch and motioned for Duo to sit down as well. When he was seated, Solo decided it was time to tell.

"Duo, do you remember Treize?"

The braided one snorted. "That punk who tried to get us out of 'his' area?"

"Yes, that's the one."

Sure Duo remembered him. He remembered him very clearly. Solo had saved him from one of Treize's gang members and he'd done the same for Solo who got into a fight with Treize himself later. In the end Treize had left, most likely thinking it wasn't worth it. They hadn't seen him since. But what did he have to do with the missing others?

Suddenly Duo got suspicious. "Solo, what's going on here?"

Solo moved his hand over the arm of his seat. "See this chair I'm sitting in? That's all that was left when my previous 'cottage' burned down."

Duo narrowed his eyes. His previous place was burned down? Why? Did someone want revenge or something? "Are you...?"

"Going criminal?" Solo sighed. "Not really, I got myself a job at a nearby snack bar, but the neighbourhood still ain't much. You hear enough things from customers there. Usually I only half listen, but lately I've been hearing the name Treize pretty often. Seems like he's getting more 'n more in favour by the bigger fish, doin' their small jobs and such. One time he showed up at my work, as just a customer. He ignored me and I did the same, but when he left the place, he suddenly turned and winked at me. Barely a week later I came home from work to find my place all burnt down, stupid shit."

"So he got back at ye, why would he be in this now?"

Solo turned his back to Duo and scratched his head. A clear sign there was something he didn't really want to tell.

"Solo...?"

"Yeah, well, about a month ago one of his pawns who didn't recognise me decided to choose one of my tables to order lunch at. I saw they were carrying some white stuff to I replaced it by flower from the kitchen and sent their stuff down the drain."

"You didn'!" Now Duo was really getting worried.

"I was angry, 'kay?" Solo tried to justify his actions. "Stupid git burnt my house down. It's not like any of you were still under my protection!"

"But how could you possibly be so stupid as to get involved with drugs! Solo, you know how them addicts and junkies are, you've seen it!"

Solo looked down. "It's a bit late for that now... But besides the point, the little ones are missing from the orphanage they were placed in now Saria's gone too. Non of the old gangs would be as stupid as to try that, we never even gave 'em a reason to."

"You basically you're sayin' Treize is behind all this?" Solo confined to nodding. "Damn, this is worse than I thought."

"'M sorry."

"Me too, but that ain't gonna be enough this time." Duo looked his friend straight in the eye now. "Solo, Saria is not the only one missing."

Solo blinked. "She's not?"

"Two other guys of my orphanage have been gone since yesterday as well."

"Damn." Solo shifted in his chair and Duo leaned back into the uncomfortable couch. So the rest of the gang was missing and Solo suspected Treize who was set on making his way higher up in the underworld? This was just too much. How could the elder boy possibly have been so stupid as to get involved in this? And what would Treize possibly want with those kids? Unless he just wanted to use them to punish Solo... If those kids ended up hurt because of Solo...

That moment was chosen by Solo to interrupt his friend's musing.

"Duo, I'm..."

But the braided boy knew exactly what Solo was going to say. He didn't gfeel like dealing with his best friend's guilt right now, not when he wanted nothing rather than to blame him. So he interrupted the sentence before the words cold be spoken. "You got a lead?"

Solo slumped back in his chair, sensing the other boy's anger. "Just rumours," he sighed,  
"shouldn't we perhaps call the cops this time? It is kidnapping."

Duo shook his head. "Marquise is investigating. He'll get both our asses in jail b'fore we get a chance to speak." If they wanted to save their friends, they couldn't possibly wait for the cops to take action, they had to take it as soon as possible. And as soon as possible was right now. "Let's go check your lead."

From the outside it looked just like any other building in the area, old and boring. It didn't have many windows, two on this side and four around the corner, but those were covered well with dark materials.

The two boys spared each other a glance. This was it, this was where they hoped their friends would be.

"Now what?" The younger one asked in a hushed voice.

"We scout." Solo answered. "Find any way in, any place to hide for if there's trouble, but don't go try anything stupid just yet."

"All the information you can get, huh?" Duo grinned. It wasn't as if he hadn't done this before. They always used to do it when they were preparing a break-in. The only difference here was that this time they would be taking living beings instead of lifeless goods. "You take that side, I'll try over here."

Solo agreed. "Back in half an hour?"

"Same place."

The elder boy nodded and they took off.

Half an hour later the two boys were back together. They started for Solo's place, but waited until they were out of earshot of anyone near the building before Solo decided to speak. "what'd ya find?"

Duo glanced back and sighed. "Wooden back door, probably blocked though. One window blocked from inside's view, only big enough for the little ones. Also, a drain pipe leading to second floor, some kind of storage room from what I could see."

"Any sign of the kids?" Solo asked.

Duo shook his head.

"Anything else?"

"Not many places to hide outside though it will become pretty dark at night."

"Hmm." Solo seemed to think for a moment as he bit his lower lip. "Not many places to hide on my side either. Front door, as expected is an electric garage door. No way we can open it from the outside and it is way too much in sight of the other industrial buildings so that's really no good. It does make a nice road to escape if only we had a car or other fast enough vehicle but it'll be tricky. Only for a last resort, I'd say, unless it can fit in a very good plan which, at the moment, I can't think of."

Duo sighed. "So basically, this isn't going to be easy. We'll have to think it out, perhaps sleep a day on it instead of acting tonight?"

Solo nodded. "We gottao remember it'll only be the two of us, we don't know for sure if the others are there and if they are, in what kind of condition they are."

So basically, and Duo knew Solo was thinking it as well, this was a pretty hopeless case. Too little information, too few facts to rely on. "Perhaps if we come back tonight we can see some movement going on? That might just give us any clues on where the kids are."

Solo thought about it as they rounded another corner. "Perhaps... I'm just not fond of there bein' only two 'f us even if all we do's scout. Kushrenada might be expecting us, if he catches us, it's over."

They let a silence fall in which they both worried over their situation. Their options were limited by their number and they had to think this one out if they ever wanted to pull it off. Mistakes could really not be afforded.

Before he realised it, Duo was looking up at the cottage Solo called 'home' again. Silently, they both entered. But before they had pulled off their jackets, Duo felt something was wrong. He glanced at Solo, whom had stopped in mid-walk and was now staring that the couch in the back of the room. The _occupied_ couch?

The occupant took in the sight of the two younglings who had just entered and smirked, tossing a strand of long, blond hair over his shoulder.

"My my, welcome back, Solo, or should I say Simon Davids now?"

Duo raised an eyebrow. Simon Davids? He glanced at Solo who remained unmoving, before he turned his attention back to the visitor.

"And, what a surprise to see runaway Duo Maxwell is here as well."

Solo gritted his teeth, as he spat out that one word, glaring at the man facing them now.

"Marquise."

T.B.C.

I was going to end it in one chapter, just like I ended 'a new life' with an abrupt plot and ending. But then I found a plothole and then I thought up a story and found another plothole and then I figured out this whole plot and it just grew bigger and bigger. Now I like it so much, I'm stuck with writing at least another chapter, maybe even two, having to leave you guys waiting even longer before this damned story finally gets finished. So I'm sorry to leave you all (whoever is still with me) waiting for this a little longer. Anyway, I have it pretty much thought out, but not 100 yet so any suggestions will be welcome.

little princess


	14. Chapter Thirteen: The end or not the end

'What?'

'Unbelievable!'

'She updated?'

'She actually updated?'

'Is this an author's note, saying she quit the story?'

'no... it's...'

The Final Chapter! I was gonna make this into two chapters, but decided you'd waited long enough. So without further ado, here come 11 unbeta-ed pages just for you!

Chapter Thirteen: The end, or not the end

The two youths stood a bit closer together as they glared at the man in front of them. Marquise looked back trough the mask covering his eyes, his face void of any emotion. The way he sat there on the couch, arm over the back as if he owned the place just made Duo want to kick him out, but he figured it'd perhaps be best not to try so. If there's one thing he understood it was that attacking an officer was never a good idea and seeing as how Zechs was wearing his uniform there was also the possibility of this cottage being surrounded by now. However, that didn't mean either boys had to go willingly with the situation.

"I could have you arrested for breaking and entering." His voice was cold and Duo wondered if he'd ever heard it so cold before.

Marquise just returned with a voice equally as cold, if not worse. "I could have you arrested for so much more."

Solo raised his arms in front of him. "Then why don't you?"

Marquise slowly got up from the couch. Duo held his breath as he watched the taller man's movements, but was surprised to find that all he did was put his hands in his pockets.

"You seem eager."

Solo raised an eyebrow. "You don't."

Zechs seemed to consider his words a moment before he spoke. "If I wanted to arrest the two of you, I would have brought more men along."

"You're not here to arrest us?" Solo dropped his hands.

"I want your help."

Duo blinked. Surely he hadn't heard that right? Marquise not wanting to arrest them? Marquise needing their help? What the hell was going on here?

"There's bigger fish to catch than a street rat and a runaway." Marquise continued, sparing Duo only a short glance. "We want to catch those fish and get your 'friends' back at the same time."

Duo narrowed his eyes and decided it was time for him to join the conversation. "You know where they are?"

Zechs raised an eyebrow and turned questioningly towards Solo. "You haven't shown him yet?"

"Shown me what?" Duo looked at Solo, who was still glaring at Marquise.

"The letter with the conditions."

Solo ignored Duo's face as he made sure to keep his glare pointed at Marquise. "How do _you_ know about that letter?"

"It is my job to know." The mysterious answer came. "Now why don't you inform Mister Maxwell there exactly of the contents of it?"

Duo looked at Solo, confused once again. This was starting to get old. But if Solo had kept important information from him, he wanted to know what exactly that was. "Solo?"

Solo sighed, realising that if he didn't tell him, Marquise would. "In exchange for our friends," he muttered, "Treize wants us to do some dirty work for him."

"What!" Duo couldn't believe what he just heard and Solo turned to him, his eyes no warmer than stone.

"Treize wants us to do his dirty work so he can get higher-up." His voice was completely monotone, reminding Duo painfully of his roommate. "In exchange he says he won't harm the gang."

Duo blinked. "And you haven't told me this because...?"

"Duo! This is Treize we're speaking of! You think he can be trusted? I won't let him make you his little puppet, he'll end up using all of us then!"

Duo glared back a glare matching that of his roommate's. "I'm not a child anymore, Solo." He said through clenched teeth. "Stop trying to protect me, I know what Treize is capable of! We have to make sure he others are safe and if he's got them and wants us, what other choice do we have?"

Zechs, whom had remained silent during their little argument, took this s his cue. "If you do anything rash, all will be lost."

Both teenagers now turned back to the policeman, both still glaring but they wisely kept from throwing more words at him.

"Please, be seated." The uniformed man waved at the couch behind him as he stepped aside to give them space. Not sure of what else to do, Solo cautiously walked over to the opposite side of the couch while Duo sat down in the chair, neither willing to be within this man's close range.

Zechs remained standing so that he could face both boys. "As I said, there might be a way to finish this with as few casualties as possible."

-----

Duo glanced down at himself, turning in the streetlight to get a better view of his looks. He glanced back up at his companion and questioningly raised an eyebrow. "Why are we doing this again?"

_/-/-/ Short Flashback /-/-/_

_"Leave Duo out of this!" Solo glared hard at Zechs, but said man seemed unimpressed._

_"Oh, but I can't. You see, one of the conditions Mr. Maxwell here agreed to so that all charges would be dropped was that he would stay at the orphanage. Now that he has decided to run away..." The pause Zechs left for dramatic effect was filled quickly by Solo's voice._

_"He has a nine o'clock curfew!"_

_Duo glared at him. "Shut up, Solo. They're my friends too, I'm in this now." Solo opened his mouth to counter, but Duo didn't give him a chance. "You sold everyone out. The moment you did that, you lost the right to decide anything for any of us. I don't need you to baby-sit me."_

_/-/-/ End of Short Flashback /-/-/_

"Never mind." Duo muttered before Solo could answer. "Let's just get this over with." They had arrived at the front of the garage complex where they were to meet Treize. Soon enough, a man in a black suit came up and glanced at them suspicious. He crossed his arms, looking the two over.

"What do you want?" His voice was gruff and bored, as if he had to say that ten times a day, yet it had a hint of danger in it.

Solo would do the talking, that's what they'd agreed on. It had always been like that, Solo talked, Duo looked around. "We're here to see Treize."

Duo's eyes quickly scanned over the man as he had his attention on Solo now. He weighed at least as much as the two of them together and he was a head taller than Solo was. His suit didn't seem of the cheapest kind, but the black shoes were muddy.

"On what account?"

The man moved his arms a bit, unconsciously revealing the gun he carried. It seemed a quite standard one.

"His invitation."

The man now glanced back at Duo, who wasn't paying much attention. "What you looking at?" the man demanded, causing Duo to quickly raise his head and suppress a jump.

"Nothin'" he said quickly. The man eyed them once more before he turned away.

"Follow me."

A special cart inside the garage brought them to another building and though they rode indoors, both boys were quite certain this was the building they had explored earlier. The cart was parked next to three similar ones. They went through a door and from there another man followed behind them. They took the stairs up a level. They kept their eyes open and took in all possible backrooms and escapes routes while they silently followed the first man.

They walked through a small corridor with doors on only one side –no windows– and stopped in front of the double doors at the end. There another armed man stood guard. The first man and the guard exchanged some words and the guard looked the two boys over. Then he spoke into an intercom to the occupant of the room before he allowed entrance.

The doors opened to reveal a room furnished like an office. The carpet was a dark-blue colour, lit up by the four spots that hung from the ceiling. The walls were painted grey and had little furniture, a lamp in a corner, a door that seemed to lead to a closet and a couch, blue to match the carpet. In the middle of the room stood a desk, facing the door. On the right side behind the man was a large window probably looking out over the garage complex, on the other side hung a painting, a landscape with a river, a tree and a boat.

The man behind the desk looked up and folded his hands beneath his chin. His reddish brown hair was combed backwards, but a few strands hung in his face as if defying him.

Treize.

He was wearing white gloves, Duo noticed and quite an expensive looking suit. Obviously Solo had noticed it too. Time to put part of the plan in action.

"Looks like ya made quite a name for yourself already." Treize smiled. Only he could show a smile so creepy. From the outside it would look sincere, but when you were the one he had his eyes on, you were bound to feel uncomfortable, like useless mice about to be trapped and crushed.

"Yes," Treize agreed, "I have certainly gone up quite a bit." The door closed audible. The first man who had received them was still inside, but the other one and the guard had been dismissed with a wave of Treize's hand. He still knew how to make his people respect him.

Treize leaned a bit forward. "And I figured, why not share that with my old friends?"

Solo was all but charmed by this. "Cut the crap, Treize. What doe you want?"

"First, I'd like to know why you were charmed by a visit from Zechs Marquise earlier today."

"You had me followed?"

"I had to confirm the arrival of your second man, didn't I?" So he didn't have Solo followed. That was good. Duo didn't think so, considering they would have noticed before they went to check out this place from the outside. Treize had obviously thought one man observing Solo's cottage would have been enough.

"I did my time for what I did on the streets," Solo lied easily, "And I'm workin' an honest job now to pay for anything. Marquise ain't got nothin' on me."

"Ah." Treize said, still smiling, "but that's about to change, isn't it?"

Bastard! He was showing his control over them so easily. "Where are they?" Solo demanded.

"All in good time, my friend. First I will tell you what will be expected of you."

He pushed a button and a screen came down on the side wall. The lights dimmed. What followed was a summary of who they were going to have to 'serve' and what information they were going to get.

In the end, Solo merely snorted. "I know you better than that, Treize. By now you already got all you need for blackmailing purposes, and they'll know it, right?" After all, he had the kids to blackmail them.

Treize's smile, which had disappeared while he was explaining, now returned again. "Indeed I do."

One of Treize's weaknesses what that he just loved to show all the power he had. It had been the case when he had been their rival and it didn't seem like it had changed now. Solo knew how to use that.

"Just tell me, exactly what is your position? Considering the short time span, you can never be very high, yet this room and your clothes seem quite expensive." If Duo didn't know him better he'd thought Solo sounded impressed and actually interested.

A good thing Treize didn't know him that well. He confirmed that what Solo had flushed away had been drugs, he was even naïve enough to give names of just whom he had been ordered to get rid of. He never named his superiors, of course, but still, Solo and Duo knew enough.

And Treize agreed with that.

"Now, back to your job."

"No." This time it was Duo who spoke, surprising all other occupants of the room. "I refuse to co-operate with any of your schemes unless I know my friends are not and will not be hurt." Treize raised an eyebrow, but Duo wouldn't let him come in between. "Solo is overage. Won't do you much good whoring him out." He flipped his braid over his shoulder to strengthen his words.

Treize chuckled and leaned back. "Quite a feisty one, aren't you? Very well, I'll show you to them."

Treize guided the two young men back through the corridor and down the stairs, but he went through another door than the one where they came through earlier. This time they came upon what looked like a living room, with a couch, a tv set and some closets. One of the closets Duo recognised. It was the one standing in front of the window. He'd seen it from the outside.

Treize paid no attention to his surroundings as he headed straight for another door. The man who'd received them was now behind them, grunting his growing impatience. Solo and Duo followed Treize into the room to which he had to unlock the door.

There they were. In a dark, windowless room that looked more like a cell. The little kids were huddled together in one corner on the room, sitting on the cold floor, looking up at Treize, most fearful, but Saria glared at Treize in defiance. She didn't move a muscle though.

In the opposite corner stood a chair. On the chair was another person bound to hold him there. Though the shadows made it hard to see any features, the blonde hair was a dead give away of who was seated there. Quatre!

He was the first to noticed who Treize had brought into their room. "Duo!"

Duo glared at Treize, but it was Solo who voiced his thoughts. "Let them go."

The older man just laughed. "Would that not defeat all purpose?"

"You don't need all of them for blackmail material. You can at least let the little ones go."

"And then what? Keep only the blonde and risk you not caring enough about someone you don't know?"

Solo threw a glance at the prisoners, his eyes resting on Saria a little longer than on the others. "You can keep her and got both mine and Duo's insurance.

"Well, of course I only needed one" Treize said thoughtful, walking over to where Quatre was seated. "But I figured, hell, why not? After all, the others would make good toys," he stroked Quatre's cheek and then cupped his chin and forced the blonde to look at him, "wouldn't they?

Quatre jerked his head away and Treize slapped him at the back of his head for that.

"Besides, I love seeing the two of you squirm. Pun intended."

"I assume you got our wardrobe?" Duo put in before Solo would say something he would regret.

Treize's eyes lit up. "I take it you accept the job then?"

"Only if you will let them free once we're done."

"But of course." Yet in his eyes, Duo saw he was not planning on doing that at all.

-----

The good thing about changing into those clothes that wouldn't cover half of their bodies was that they were left alone in a room. The bad thing was that they were prevented from escaping by a guard by the door.

"Why didn't you let me bargain with him?" Solo hissed angrily at his already half-undressed friend.

"You know Treize likes power." Duo said, not exactly bothering to keep his voice low.

"So? The least I could have done was try."

"You wouldn't have succeeded. Anyway, he'll let them go once we're done. He gave his word, right?"

"Duo. This is Treize." Solo tried to reason. "He's not to be trusted."

"Oh what, so you'd rather risk gettin' him angry and not releasing them at all?"

"I'd rather you stopped being such a pain in the ass and start growing up!" By now, their voices were raised enough for anyone outside the door to hear.

"Me grow up? You sound as if you are so much of an adult! Can't even stay out of Marquise's hands! And if grown up is like that, who's gonna think of their safety? You sure as hell weren't!" A pounding on the door followed and a gruff voice ordered them to shut up, but Duo didn't care. He kicked against the box at his feet. "You shut it yourself! You're just Treize's pawn, he ain't thinking you worth nothin'!" His anger was no completely directed at their guard and Solo made no move to stop him. "Bet you're sleepin' with him, ain't ya? Treize does that to all he finds inferior. Yeah, bet you just enjoy suckin' that small pipe he calls a dick and licking his fat–" That was as far as he came, for the door was flung open and the guard strode straight for Duo.

"Why, you little fuckin..." A sickening crack sounded followed by a loud thud. Duo grinned at Solo. "Nice one!" He was on the man in no time, ridding him of his gun. Solo put down the bat he just used and reached for the rope he had ready. Duo quickly searched for any device that kept the man in contact with other men, but found non. He did find a knife, which he was sure would come in handy later on.

In no time, the two boys had their guard tied up and gagged with the cloth Solo was expected to wear for their 'job'. Duo handed Solo the gun. He was the only one in their gang who'd ever fired one before, so he was the safest to carry it around now.

"You sure we shouldn't wait for the cops?" Solo sounded nervous as he took the cold weapon.

Duo snorted. "You don't trust those any more than I do."

He put his shirt back on while Solo scanned the hall. He motioned for Duo that the coast was clear and as silent as they could, the two stole down the hallway, up the stairs where they'd come from. Solo peered through the keyhole to confirm the living room was empty before he opened that door as well. Then it was Duo's turn.

While Solo stood guard, gun in one hand, eyes carefully watching all doors, Duo picked the lock on the prison room. The door opened and the two boys stole inside, immediately noting the alarmed prisoners to keep silent. Quickly, Duo cut the rope, Saria first so she could go help Solo remove the closet covering the small window. Then Duo freed the little ones and lastly moved to do the same for Quatre. But now there were not out of danger yet.

Quickly and without a word they made their way over to Solo and Saria, who had managed to create enough space for the kids to crawl through the window. Solo turned to Saria. "Can you make it?"

"I'll have to." The girl answered, trying to sound braver than she actually was.

"Go left and keep going. Find a cop and ask for Marquise."

The girl nodded and Duo began to usher the little ones to the window. "Listen to Saria. Don't look back."

"Mikal and Caria hugged Duo simultaneously. "You're not coming with us?"

"We'll be there later." Duo offered them a small smile as he pried their hand off him. "Get going!"

Saria was the last to make her move when they heard footsteps approaching. Duo and Solo glanced at each other and without a word, Solo got again to hide behind the door where the sound was coming from. Just in time, as the door opened less than a second after he got into position.

Treize.

He stopped to view the scene before him, Quatre staring at him wide-eyed, Saria disappearing behind the moved closet and Duo, of course, glaring hard.

Treize slowly took out a gun and pointed it at Duo. "Stop them." He said, threatening. A thud and a hiss sounded, indicated that Saria had managed to squirm herself through the small window.

Duo shrugged. "Too late." Footsteps ere heard running off now.

Treize glared hard at them. "I know that window." He muttered more to himself than to anyone. "Where's Solo?"

The click of a safety being removed. Solo stepped out from behind the door, aiming the gun at Treize's head.

The older one stood silent for a moment, unmoving, his gun not wavering. "Honestly Solo, what are you going to do? Kill me?"

"If that's what it takes to protect them." Solo's voice was different now, determined, a voice that Duo had never heard before. It scared him as he realised Solo was indeed capable of doing just that.

Obviously, Treize heard it too, for he was slowly raising his hands up. Solo grabbed his gun and shoved Treize to the side. Pointing one gun at Treize, he stored the other in his pants, safety on and motioned for Duo and Quatre to get through the door.

Without a hesitation, the two boys moved to the door, Duo first, Quatre following. Then Solo shoved Treize hard into the wall.

"Run for it!" They dashed through the door, not pausing to see what happened to Treize. Duo ran past the stairs to the opposite door through which they'd entered the building, for that would have to be their way out. As he passed the stairs, he heard more than saw a man coming down from it. He wasn't quick enough to stop him, but then Quatre surprised him most of all. With a swift kick he sent the man to the floor before he resumed his way to follow Duo, who, by now had reached the door and yanked it open.

Shouts came, curses, someone yelling for them to stop, but they ignored it. They jumped in the nearest cart that stood parked and within no time, Solo had it going. Only when he drove away did Duo look back to see Treize and the guard to his room appeared in the doorway. The two men took one cart each and set out to follow the escapees.

The damned carts didn't go very fast, but it still beat running. They moved through the complex, frantically searching for a way out, but no door was open and no man was at work in the near-empty hall. Solo made sure to stay to the sides where the gas pipes ran across. Duo saw the guard taking out his gun to aim for them, but the man dared not shoot so near the pipes. He would probably not have to, for the end of the room was closing in and with all doors closed and two carts on one, they had no way out.

Solo had no choice but to stop the cart as he was easily cornered by the other two. He made an attempt to get hold of the guns, but the Guard was faster.

"Wouldn't do that if I were you."

Duo closed his eyes in defeat. They were in big trouble now.

Treize got out of his cart and walked up to the three boys, smirking. He held up his hand. Wordlessly, Solo handed over the weapons. "Looks like I win after all, hn?"

Duo gritted his teeth, feeling Quatre shifting behind him. How he would have liked to punch Treize right now. It was probably not a good idea to try that, though, considering the man had a gun aimed at him and all. He felt extra bad for Quatre still being involved in this. He of all people was the most innocent one here.

Treize ordered them out of the cart, with their hands behind their backs and stand in a row. The complied, seeing no other way out. When they were lined up, Treize passed each of them, running his hand across either their cheeks or, in Solo's case, over his chest.

"Disobedient, are you. Can't have that for a customer." He chuckled. "Still, I bet you'd make nice playthings for me."

At that moment the garage filled with sounds. Duo looked up surprised and saw that some of the garage doors opened. He glared hared at Treize, figuring this was part of his plan, but found the older man just as confused as he was.

"What the..."

"TREIZE KUSHRENADA!" A megaphone sounded. "THIS IS THE POLICE. THIS COMPLEX HAS BEEN SURROUNDED. PLEASE SURRENDER NOW."

Treize tried to cover his eyes with his hand as light beams glared at the group. Squinting his eyes, Duo watched how he clenched the gun in his hand and took a small step back.

"PUT YOUR WEAPENS ON THE FLOOR AND STEP AWAY FROM THEM." Though Duo couldn't really see, he was certain there were at least six police cars here now, two blocking each garage entrance.

When Treize didn't react right away, the voice sounded again. "THISIS THE POLICE. PLEASE SURRENDER NOW."

The guard moved to put his gun down, as did Treize now, realising there were too many men for them to take Even if they did take hostages they wouldn't get far.

"MOVE AWAY SLOWLY WITH YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEADS" Cursing under his breath, Treize did as told, followed by the guard.

Policemen stormed in and quickly isolated them from Duo and the others. The three of them still looked confused at the whole happening. Then Duo saw people running in their direction. Suddenly he became unaware of the scene around him, his eyes fixed on Heero, until he heard someone shout "Quatre!"

Not only Heero, but Trowa and Wufei were advancing as well. Quatre saw it too now and ran up to meet Trowa and find safety in his strong arms.

Finally, surrounded by both Heero and Wufei, Duo found his voice again.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Trowa recognised your friend," Wufei explained grudgingly. "He persuaded the cops to let us come."

Duo blinked. "Persuaded?" There was no way those cops would've been 'persuaded' by just a boy. Well, unless they'd been offered loads of money, of course but Trowa would... never... again... right?

"Never mind." He still managed to glare hard at Trowa, promising himself to take care of him later. However, Quatre noticed this and stepped in between.

"Duo, leave him alone! The reason he picked on me was because he liked me more than he thought he should. A boy being in love with a boy didn't seem normal so he tried to forget me by bullying me."

"And that doesn't sound wrong to you?"

"Yes, it does." Quatre stated, his voice softening. "But I believe him when he says he's sorry."

Duo snorted. "'Sorry' don't make up for it."

"He's trying, Duo, give him a break. You gave Wufei a break last year, right? Trowa's the one who got you and Saria to go see your 'gang members' at the other orphanage."

Duo went silent at that. Trowa paid for it? The limo, the address, everything... That had been Trowa's present? He must have had the strangest expression on his face, for Heero appeared next to him. "Duo, are you okay?"

"Yeah." He turned back to look at Heero, but instead his eyes fell upon Solo, who was in the process of being arrested and handcuffed.

"Wait!" He shouted at the cops doing this. "You can't do this! He helped you, Zechs, he played his part, let him go!" Duo tried to run for Solo, but a cop intercepted him and held him back.

Solo, his hands now cuffed behind his back, turned his head slightly so he faced his friend. "Duo, it's fine. They were bound to catch me sooner or later."

"No!" Duo shouted. "It's not fair, 't is betrayal, it's... it's not fair!" He watched as Solo was guided to a police car and put in the back. While Duo's struggles ceased, the car started the engine. One last glance was all Solo could offer before the car drove him out of sight.

Duo fell to his knees and the policeman let go of him. He balled his fist as if trying to crush the stone it caught. "It's not fair..." he said, biting back his tears. "Not... fair."

Suddenly aware of the pair of black boots in front of him, Duo looked up. The moment he caught sight of the long, blonde strands, anger took over. By the time his eyes reached the metal mask he was gritting his teeth and glaring hard. Without a warning he shot up and threw his fist at Zechs, who easily caught it. His other fist shot out, but Zechs intercepted this one as well. He allowed the boy to struggle some before he hardened his grip and gave a short jerk. It had the desired effect as Duo stopped struggling, instead the teenager just glared.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you!" He spat at the officer. "You and your big words, sayin' we should help ya fellows out and all'd be fine, but in the end you double-crossed us just as hard, you. Son of a.."

"I suggest you do not finish that sentence." A cold voice sounded and Duo could only imagine the expression his captor's eyes wore. Alarmed by the seriousness in the man's voice, he chose to indeed leave the sentence unfinished. He was too tired to fight this man, he realised he was nearly panting trough clenched teeth.

Zechs let go of Duo's wrists and Duo stepped back, distancing himself from the hated man. His wrists were throbbing painfully from the grip, but he refused to show it by easing them.

The older man spoke. "I stated these conditions to Solo before he accepted the mission and he agreed to them. You were not supposed to act on your own. I could have arrested the both of you and leave it at that."

Duo huffed. "So you blackmailed him with the lives of his friends and with me, is that it?"

"Call it as you wish." Zechs turned around, prepared to walk away, but hesitated. "His actions here will be taken in account when the judge decides on his punishment. He saved quite some lives today, more even considering the casualties Treize's original future would have brought. That will count for something."

With that, the man walked off, leaving Duo behind with mixed emotions. Heero knelt down beside him, but he didn't know what to say. In the end, he settled for just holding his friend.

"We ran into Saria and some other kids on our way over." It was Wufei who said this. "They have been taken back to their orphanage. Saria is in a car over there." He nudged his head in the direction of the door farthest away.

Duo glanced in the indicated direction and nodded. "Thanks" He said, before heading that way.

-----

Duo returned the bugs that had been planted on him and he was lead away to give his testimony of what had happened. After that he was brought back to the orphanage, along with the others. Of course, once there, people were dying to hear their stories, but he wanted nothing of it. All he wanted was to go to sleep and let it pass. Guided by Heero, who simply glared at everyone who was even thinking about asking questions, he returned to his room. Once there, he flopped down on his bed and closed his eyes.

"Duo?"

"Hm?" Duo glanced at his roommate, who was standing beside his bed. He pushed himself up.

Heero paused a moment, as if embarrased, before he looked down and spoke. "Remember when we were in that club with new years eve and that girl kissed me and you said you wanted to do that, did you mean it?"

Duo blinked. That was one thing he hadn't expected to come. He had been sure Heero hadn't heard when he didn't bring it up and he had almost forgotten about it himself. Now that they were alone, after everything that had happened and him bringing it up like that brought Duo in embarrassment and he lowered his eyes as well. "I uh. . . I-I– " but Heero gently touched his chin and forced him to look him straight in the eyes so he could read them. That was far easier than waiting for an answer.

Duo just stared back, not knowing what to do or say. Suddenly Heero smiled satisfied and drew closer to Duo. Having seen in his roommates eyes what was next he closed his eyes and waited for Heero's soft lips to touch his. Once that happened, his emotions seemed to take over his body as he responded to the kiss by kissing back. His mind no longer had control over his actions, but everything his emotions told him felt good. Because this was Heero. This was it.

-----

_**Small epilogue** (you know those scenes you sometimes see in comedies when the credits are already in view like in the show 'Friends'? (don't own, don't sue) This is that kind of epilogue)_

-----

The door to the Maxwell and Yuy residence opened and two pair of eyes glanced inside. They glanced at Maxwell's bed where two boys were sleeping, cuddled against each other in a tight embrace, both with naked chests. For a moment the eyes just stared at the boys but then the blue ones met the black ones and they pulled back.

"Shouldn't we wake them?" The blue-eyed boy asked.

The other one smirked. "I got a better idea, Plan M." From out of nowhere he pulled a camera in view and without making a noise he glanced inside again, this time with the camera. A soft click was heard while a flash appeared, but the two sleeping boys didn't wake up. However, Yuy, the one with his head towards the door, did stir a bit.

Wufei snickered at Quatre. "If THIS doesn't convince them. . ."

"At least there's no Dorothy Catalonia in the way to stop our plan at count zero this time..."

The End

* * *

Ugh! Finally finished! I'm almost ashamed to put this up as over the past years my writing has improved a lot, but yet I'm proud that I finished it. A good deal of Zechs in this last and final chapter! More than I intended, Solo even had to pay for it, but I couldn't help myself. He's just so hot! 

And yes, I now know Wufei's sword is Chinese and not a Japanese Katana, but I didn't realise that until after I wrote it in the previous story. I really didn't feel like going back to correct it.

If I have forgotten anything important in this story please let me know. No continuation this time! Please review to tell me what you thought of all of it.

princess


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